


The Horde Soldier

by mariuspunmercy



Series: The Princess Universe [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Human Catra (She-Ra), Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Mentioned He-Man, Never actually shows up tho, POV Adora (She-Ra), Slow Burn, The Author Regrets Everything, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, basically adora is really sAd, winter solider au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-03-30 22:38:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19037014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariuspunmercy/pseuds/mariuspunmercy
Summary: As Adora struggles to embrace her role in the modern world as She-Ra, she teams up with Entrapta and Bow because of an unexpected enemy.A new threat  has risen from history: an assassin known as the Horde Soldier.1. The Horde Soldier2. She's Terrible Art3. Mercy





	1. I Should've Stayed In The Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Playlist - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3hXQDpWPsBP8yhHUvUAojs?si=-v9fVBB1RM2DsZV_R7p0fQ

“On your left.”

Entrapta groaned, attempting to speed up. Adora left her in the dust, running past her. This is the second time since they started their laps, and she's barely broken a sweat. It took another two minutes until she saw the other girl again.

She sped up and found herself at Entrapta side again. “On your left.”

“Goddamnit,” Entrapta groaned, starting to sprint. It still did nothing for her since Adora easily ran around the grass plain, pink hair showing up once again in front of her.

“Don't say it,” Entrapta muttered under her breath through gritted teeth.

“On your left.”

“I hate you.” Adora laughed as she passed Entrapta for the fourth time while running this lap. She didn't have the same burning in her chest when she ran as her friend did, so she could do this all day.

Entrapta, however, could not.

The other girl stopped, panting with hands on her knees. She wiped her brow from the sweat dripping down her face, breathing heavily. Adora wasn't even winded. She's special in that ‘frozen in the ice for seventy years and came out a superhero with a cool sword' kind of way.

“You're actually insane,” Entrapta commented, sitting down by a tree. “I think I need a medic,” she joked, grabbing her heart. It may be seven am and they've been up since six, but only one of the two is actually dying right now.

“I think you need a new set of lungs,” Adora put her hands on her hips as she watched her friend struggle.

“I think you need to chill,” Entrapta put her head against the tree. “You ran like ten miles in the span of half an hour. I know the whole defrosting thing must've freaked you out, but girl, killing me probably isn't the best way to go at this.”

It definitely took a lot of getting used to. That's pretty evident by the way New York has changed since the forties. Back in the day when she fought in the war against the people on Beast Island, there wasn't any glowing billboards or sparkling lights. Now look where they're at.

“It's not that bad,” Adora admited, swinging her ponytail around her shoulder, a small breeze hitting her undercut. “The food got better. We used to boil everything back then. Then there's the internet! That's super helpful. I'm trying to read it and catch up. There's so much that happened.  _ Too  _ much.” She outstretched her hand towards her friend.

Entrapta paused for a moment before standing up, accepting Adora's hand. “Marvin Gaye. The nineteen seventy two trouble man soundtrack. It'll teach you everything you need to know.”

“I'll add it to the list.” Adora pulled her little red notebook from her leggings pocket and a pen, uncapping it. She wrote down the album name, along with all the other pop culture/modern stuff she has to check out. Star Wars, Rocky, Spice Girls, thai food, Steve Jobs, Nirvana, etc.

As soon as the notebook went back into her pocket, her phone vibrated in the other. She sighed, already knowing who it is. She pulled her phone out and checked the message, hoping she had at least fifteen minutes so she could shower. 

_ Mission from Angella. We gotta go. Meet at curb. I be in car :) _

If there's anything she hates about cell phones, it's how stupid some people's grammar over text is. “Duty calls. Glimmer's mom is going to kill me,” she told Entrapta, pocketing her phone. “Well Entrapta, thanks for the run. Well, I guess that's what you wanna call running.”

Entrapta rolled her eyes jokingly as she used the hem of her shirt to wipe her sweat. “So it's gonna be like now, huh?”

“Oh, it's definitely like that.”

A small laugh escaped her. She rubbed her arm where she the sun rays were hitting her skin, probably giving her a god-awful tan. No one ever lets her live down her back tan from the stupid She-Ra suit. (Also according to Glimmer, it not only messed up her skin but did nothing for her ass).

That reminds her to check on Glimmer one of these days. She heard from S.H.I.E.L.D. rumors that she upgraded her Iron Lady suit. Maybe they could catch up at the movies and poke fun at the war ads and propaganda. That's something friends in modern times right? 

“Hey, by the way,” Entrapta nudged her. “There's this super cute girl who works at the desk. I think her name is Perfuma or something like that. Mind showing up there one day and making me look all cool?”

Adora fake winced. “I dunno, man. I might swoop in and steal your girl. She's not really my type, but I have people swooning left and right towards me. Who knows anymore.”

They laughed until they heard the car pulling up. A black Mercedes with tinted windows stopped in front of them, tires making a loud sound. The windows slowly rolled down, revealing a man with a straight face and sunglasses perched on his nose. “Hey, girls. I have to pick up a fossil so we gotta hurry.”

“Har har. Hilarious.” Adora stepped up to the car, pulling the door handle. “Look, Bow. This is my new friend I met at lunch the other day. Remember I told you about her? She works at S.H.I.E.L.D. too. Entrapta, Bow. Bow, Entrapta.”

The two nodded at each other. She met Entrapta when she tried a new place in New York Bow told her about called by Chloe. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent recognized her as the infamous She-Ra, and their friendship sparked from there. It's nothing like her  _ old  _ friend, but she'd rather not think about it right now.

Bow knows who Entrapta is anyways. Everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. should actually. Angella is the head of it, and her daughter is pretty good friends with this chick. Glimmer, naturally supposed to follow in her footsteps. Yet there's no sign of recognition. Weird.

Adora opened the door, sitting down in shotgun. She took the sunglasses from Bow and put them over her own eyes. She waved goodbye to Entrapta before Bow stepped on the gas, pulling away from the curb.

*

Adora sometimes loved her She-Ra suit.

After Bow parked the car very far away from the docks, they had the mission Angella gave them: free hostages. It's weird that hostages got on a S.H.I.E.L.D. ship, but apparently some organization called S.T.R.I.K.E. kidnapped people and whatnot.

Anyways, she loved her suit. She loved how soft it is and how it made no noise as she ran to get in position. She held her sword as she barrelled past the empty deck. Suspicious. The other people at S.H.I.E.L.D. communicated via coms, Adora barely paying attention until needed.

"What about the girl who works at the She-Ra exhibit?" Bow asked. "She seems nice. Or even the girl you were running with today. They're both very likely candidates."

"Secure the engine room first. Find me a date second," Adora rolled her eyes, even if no one can see her.

"Target acquired," someone muttered.

"Bow, what's your status?" Adora whispered into her walkie. She waited five seconds in silence. She didn't like her friend being out there and not responding. She did a quick check around her to make sure no one saw her. "Bow, status?"

"Hang on!" Bow yelled through his walkie. She heard grunts of pain through the coms, so she could only assume Bow is beating the crap out of whoever is there.

That's something she learned pretty early on at S.H.I.E.L.D. If you hear someone in pain through the open coms, ninety-nine percent of the time it's the other team. S.H.I.E.L.D. is too good at training people to get out on the field.

Since Bow used a bow and arrow, (archer, surprising right) the metal sound of the arrows hitting the floor were audible. His suit left him even more exposed, his midriff shown off to the world, but as she listened in, she heard no indication of him being hurt.

After about a solid twenty seconds of groans and metal clacking, heavy breathing sounded on the com. "Engine room secured," Bow panted, a soft chuckle made its way into her ear. "Wait, hold up." One final metal sound and a loud 'oof' rang through, footsteps being the next noise. "Okay, now it's secure," he confirmed.

Now she has to give the signal. They have two shooters in position to get to the hostages, guns loaded for the bad guys. She climbed a railing to get a better position so she could see the boat easier. She watched the shooters lower themselves into the room where the hostages stayed.

"On my mark," Adora said, raising her guard. If a plan ever goes sour, it happens right before the important stuff happens. "3...2...1."

Nothing unexpected happened. In fact, she heard the regular. The shooters started, well, shooting. They shot and the bullets bounced off the walls. It's a sound she's heard plenty of times before. So far, everything is going fine.

S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't negotiate, so whoever put this whole thing together must be a joke. She laughed when she heard the third person involved in the plan bust the door down and shoot somebody, ridding the noise completely. Either all the negotiators were dead, they surrendered, or all of the above.

Adora took this as her cue. She rounded the corner in search of Scorpia and her mercenaries, who were most likely in the control center. This is what she came to do. Not boss everyone around and tell them what they're doing, but to take down the big bad guy in charge. She kept her sword raised as she silently ran.

She crept up even quieter when she heard what sounded like Russian. Everyone else seemed to have been with the hostages. She grinned as she let Scorpia finish her conversation with whoever she's talking to. She lowered her sword and pulled her elbow back to get ready to chuck the thing straight at them.

"Heads up!" Adora yelled as she threw her sword. Scorpia and her conversationalist turned their heads at her, ducking as the vibranium sword came at them. It crashed into the window behind the two, shattering the glass behind it.

She ran to where her sword flew threw the window and into the control room, lodging into the wall. She sprinted to vault over Scorpia and the man next to her, leaping into the control room. She ripped the sword from the wall, taking off pieces of the limestone. Scorpia kicked the door open, but she sprinted down the hallway and leaped out a different window.

When she hit the floor, she barely registered the pain in her shoulder. "Bow, get to the rendezvous. The hostiles are still in play," someone said over the coms.

Adora stood up and started speed walking. "Bow, Scorpia is still in play. Circle back and get the hostages to safety." She expected a reply from the young assassin. She did a quick sweep of the area around her and found no one. Where is he? "Bow?"

She heard running coming from her left. She raised her sword to block her from the incoming attacker. Scorpia had enough force to knock her to the ground with the first push, especially since it was an unexpected attack. 

Adora leaped onto her feet and swung her sword at Scorpia. She went for the stomach to wind the enemy, but it didn't work as Scorpia kept hacking away at her upper body with her punches.

It's nothing She-Ra can't handle, though. She noticed when Scorpia momentarily faltered. Adora took advantage of the quick break to drive the hilt of her sword into Scorpia's arm, doing nothing to the other girl besides making her stagger back.

The little steps back proved to be what messed her up. Adora used Scorpia's slight off balance to get her guard down. She kicked wildly at Scorpia's head, and in her attempt to duck, Adora managed to grab the girl in a headlock, driving her knee into Scorpia's chest three times before she dropped to a knee.

Scorpia stood up unsteadily, looking Adora straight into the eye. "I thought you were more than just a sword."

Adora grinned. She thought her fighting skills were taught in bad guy orientation. Is the power of She-Ra not more widely spread? Guess she'll have to change that. She strapped her sword to her back, staring Scorpia dead in the eyes. She lifted her glittering gold crown from her head, her blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders.

The crown got discarded when she threw it to the side. "Shall we find out?"

Scorpia circled around Adora for a second before throwing the first punch. Adora gave her maybe five seconds before she actually started using her strength. One punch delivered in the right spot drove Scorpia backwards.

This is another advantage that Adora used. Scorpia's momentarily confusion before attempting to swing again allowed her to kick the other girl square in the chest. Finally having winded the enemy, Adora decided to be extra and do a swanky flip for hopefully the final blow.

When her foot connected with Scorpia's face, she just  _ knew  _ the fight wasn't over. Scorpia grunted, still conscious. The enemy collapsed to the floor in a heap. She grabbed her face, feeling her bloody nose before standing up again.

As much as she loves these fights, they're by the ocean and it's way too cold. Adora sprinted forward and used that momentum to carry her and Scorpia into the nearest door. When the door collided with Scorpia's back, they fell onto the ground with Adora straddling her. She finished the fight with a punch to the face, leaving the girl an unconscious mess on the floor.

"Well, this is awkward."

Adora glanced up to see Bow standing over a series of computers. What the hell? She stood up and made her way to Bow. "What are you doing?"

"Backing up my hard drive," Bow chuckled and turned away from her, focusing again on his computer. "It's a good habit to get into. I lost my school project once and now I can't resist saving everything."

She rolled her eyes. She looked back at Scorpia's body before zeroing in on Bow, prepared to give him one of her famous speeches. Well, in this, lecture. "We needed your help with the hostages. I don't even know who has them or where they're at. What the hell are you doing here?"

Adora finally took the time to see exactly what he's doing. She wasn't a very good hacker herself. The whole technology thing is super helpful, don't get her wrong. She loves it and recently discovered a show she likes on Netflix. But when it came to inputting code brand new? She couldn't do it. But it didn't take an MIT graduate to figure out what he's doing.

"You're downloading S.H.I.E.L.D intel," she concluded.

"Whatever I can get my hands on," he mumbled.

In the middle of a rescue when they needed him, Bow decides he had better things to do. He snuck off without telling anyone where he's going, and now neither of them have any clue where the hostages are. Adora needed to hide her anger since she knows the time and place for that. But yeah, she isn't a saint. She can't hold in all of her annoyance.

"Our mission is to rescue hostages," she tried to say calmly. Seriously, she's aging another seventy years because of this dude.

"No, that's your mission." Bow acted like that made any sense. A flash drive she didn't notice that was plugged into the computer beeped and shined blue. "And you've done it beautifully," he smiled, grabbing the drive and walking away.

Like hell she'd let him just walk away from this. She grabbed his arm as he moved, holding her grip tightly to let him know she's not amused. He's taking this whole situation lightly and she doesn't like that. "I hope you know you've jeopardized this whole mission."

"That's an over exaggeration," he complained. 

Their little squabble got cut off when someone who wasn't on their side ran into the room. She grabbed a grenade she had strapped onto her sword hollister and threw it towards the enemy.

She put her arms around Bow as they started leaping out a window, gunshots fired at them. When the explosion went off, the window broke, making it easier for them to get to the other side.

They slowly made their way to stand up, her sword coming out of its hollister and on the ground next to her. She saw Bow next to her in pain. She forgot he didn't possess the same strength as her.

Bow grunted when she moved the rubble from on top of him. He glared at the top of her head. "Where the hell did your crown go?"

Adora touched her forehead where the accessory was. She realized she had left it in the other room where she's sure more enemies would be. "Leave it. I'll have someone make me a new one." She cleared her throat to speak into the coms. "Anyone have word or visual on the hostages?"

This time, someone responded immediately. "Don't worry, She-Ra. We've got them all on a copter. We're taking them to S.H.I.E.L.D. now."

"Good job, guys," she panted. Running ten miles earlier didn't tire her. Scorpia getting up and continuing to fight her every time? That could get exhausting. She admired that kind of stamina, but it left her incredibly tired after missions. She turned back to Bow as she stood up and offered him a hand. "You gonna tell me what this is all about?"

He accepted her hand. "You're better off asking Angella."

"Right. But first, let's make it back to S.H.I.E.L.D. alive."

*

They made it back fine. That was never the issue. 

Bow gave her the flash drive before he left. She should remind herself to thank him. Adora marched into Angella's office first thing after dismissing Bow. She didn't like being kept in the dark about a mission she led. She found the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at her desk. "You just can't stop yourself from lying."

"I didn't lie," Angella put down the pen she was writing with. "Bow had a different mission than you."

"A different mission?" She walked to the desk, putting her hands on the cool wood. "A mission that you didn't feel obligated to tell me about when I led the other mission you asked of me!"

"I'm not obligated to do anything."

When Angella turned her spinny chair away from Adora to look out the window, she turned on the guilt trip. "Those hostages could've died. I didn't know Bow had something different and we didn't have anyone to search for them. We're lucky those troops are good or else people would've been killed."

Angella turned back to look at her. "That's why I sent the greatest soldier in history to make sure that didn't happen." She smiled a sweet, sarcastic smile that made her blood boil.  

"Soldiers trust each other," Adora didn't have her sword, but it could've been seen as threatening in this moment. "That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of people running around and shooting guns without knowing what they're doing."

"The last time I trusted someone," Angella stood up. "I lost an eye."

Silence rang through the room. The whole one eye thing has always been a touchy subject. She couldn't even bring it up with Glimmer without sparking some sort of awkward tension. It's an unofficial rule: never talk about the missing eye. It's rare that Angella herself is bringing it up, making Adora realize the situation is more serious than she had originally thought.

"Look," Angella started. "I didn't want you doing anything you were uncomfortable with, and I know you would've been. I care about my soldiers, after all. Bow, however, is comfortable with everything."

"I can't lead a mission," Adora tried to patiently explain, using hand motions to accompany her tone. "When the people I'm leading have missions of their own."

"That's called distributing your resources," Angella fired back. "Nobody spills our secrets because nobody knows them. Now that is compartilization."

Adora thought back to their issue with trusting Angella during the invasion of New York. God forbid anyone outside of the director found out what's happening. Bless Glimmer and Mermista for figuring that one out. "Except you." She smiled to mirror Angella from earlier.

All of Angella's confidence visibly deflated. She turned her head from side to side before directly addressing Adora. "You're wrong about me, you know." They had a dramatic staring contest "I do share." Angella walked out of the room, and Adora had no other choice but to follow. "I'm nice like that."

Pressing the button on the elevator outside of the office, Angella walked in, Adora trailing behind her. "Insight bay," she said once the doors closed.

"Princess She-Ra does not have clearance for Project Insight," the elevator spoke back to them.

"Director Override. Moon, Angella Marie."

"Confirmed."

The elevator started going down. They stood in awkward silence until Angella broke it. "You know, they used to play music in here. My late husband, Micah, used to operate one of these things. Yep, he used to work in a nice building. He'd walk home every night and had ones stuffed in a brown paper bag. He'd say hi, they'd say hi back. Times changed. When he would say hi, they asked what's in the bag."

"Did he ever get mugged?" Adora asked, curiosity poking at her. Micah was never talked about, and she's determined to get as much information as she could. Now  _ this  _ is a subject that could bring Glimmer to tears.

"He would show them what's in the bag," Angella grinned. "A wad of ones and a deadly scepter of his own invention." Adora nodded, trying not to smile. "Micah loved people. But he never trusted them much."

Adora looked down. She didn't understand why Angella kept going back to not trusting anyone. The whole mission would've gone a lot smoother and they could've avoided the grenade if she just knew that Bow was doing his own thing. Their squabble is what cost them, and it wouldn't have been necessary if they trusted each other.

The elevator went lower, showing off flashy missiles and helicopters. She turned to Angella in surprise. "Yeah, I know. They're bigger than I expected."

She couldn't stop looking at them. They're way bigger than a twenty two. Fully loaded tanks and helicopters with weapons attached to them. But why did they need such weapons? What's going on that they feel the need to create this?

_ "This  _ is Project Insight. Three helicarriers that are synched with the satellite network. Once they're up in the sky, they're never coming down. An absolutely amazing engine thanks to our star."

"Glimmer?"

"Yeah, Glimmer."

"How's she been?"

"Good, good," Angella cleared her throat. "Anyways, these missiles have the ability to eliminate over a thousand hostiles at a time. The satellites can read a terrorists' DNA before they even step outside. We can now stop threats before they even happen."

Adora took a second to realize exactly what S.H.I.E.L.D. is creating. "I thought the punishment came after the crime. Or have things changed that much since I got out of the ice."

"We can't afford to wait until the damage has been done."

"Who's we?"

Angella ignored her question. "After the attack on New York, I convinced everyone that we needed some sort of crime analysis. For once, we'll finally have an advantage."

"You can't hold a gun to everyone on Earth, call it protection, and expect everyone to be on board with it," Adora pointed out. This means everyone is a target. Not just criminals, but civilians.  _ Innocent  _ civilians being put under a microscope and inspected without them even knowing.

"You ever done some nasty stuff?" Angella raised an eyebrow. "Something that makes it hard to sleep at night?"

"We only did things as a compromise," Adora said. "We did it so people could be free." She pointed to the death machines. "This isn't freedom. This is fear."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. sees the world for how it is, not how we want to see it," Angella stepped closer to her. "I think it's about time you got with the times. I know you're new here, but you can't be ignorant."

Adora knew Angella is just trying to get under her skin. But she wouldn't allow it. She smiled once before turning on her heel and leaving, half horrified by S.H.I.E.L.D.

*

Adora couldn't sleep.

It's well past visiting hours, but she's She-Ra. She has some leverage considering she's saved the world twice now. She tried sleeping, she really did. But the nightmares plagued her and all she could see was her twin brother.

While Adam and everyone else who's still alive from the war are aware she's alive, they're far too old to even remember what happened five minutes ago. So at eleven at night (which wasn't even late) she grabbed her motorcycle and made her way to the hospital.

It's always been painful to see him again. He's the one who tried to take the serum in the first place. But according to him, she had to play the hero and take up that offer. Super strength and shiny crowns can't hide her from her past, however.

She wasn't in the military. It was always supposed to be Adam taking the serum. He's been the plan from the beginning. He should be the one with the sword and still healthy. But on visiting day, they took one glance at her and the way she threw her body over a fake grenade and decided she's the new test subject.

After blowing up the vessel, she would've died had it not been for the serum. Then the whole ice fiasco and whatever… Immediately after the invasion of New York, she tracked Adam down and managed to find him at a local hospital.

...with dementia.

She parked her motorcycle in the almost empty parking lot. She could've called an Uber.  _ Damm  _ did she love Uber… Would've been so helpful back in the day. Parking her motorcycle, she took off her helmet but left her red leather jacket on. While she does love her white dri-fit long sleeve, she loves this jacket more.

Nodding to the receptionist, she made her way down the hall. She paused in front of a vending machine real quick. She noticed that there's still a whole row worth of hubba bubba gum. She'd remember that.

She clasped the hard drive in her pocket tightly, stopping when she found herself in front of Adam's room. She glanced around quickly before making her way inside, greeted to the sight of her twin brother.

He's asleep, which makes her kinda sad. To normal people standards, it wasn't late at all. But Adam is over eighty five. To him, bedtime is before seven thirty. Plus his whole sickness thing exhausted him more.

"Hey Adam," Adora pulled up a chair to sit next to him. "I want to know what you did today."

The guilt is unbearable. She hadn't visited him in over two months. Considering how much he always worried about her back then, she really is a bad sister. He always made it a point to make sure she comes back safely and she couldn't even make it to his hospital room when he's awake.

He even accepted her when… That aspect of her life doesn't matter anymore. It's gone,  _ she's  _ gone. She has a new family now: The Princesses.

(Yes, even the males became a princess.)

Her excuse to not come always seemed to be She-Ra related. A call from the hospital would come, asking when she'd be back. She told the same lie every time. She blamed it on saving the world business or working for S.H.I.E.L.D. or something. Something that seemed more important than seeing her dying brother.

It's just… Whenever she saw him, she reminded herself of everything that happened during the war. Everything she lost. The people, the battles, the memories. She lost everything when she made the decision for the ultimate sacrifice.

Or at least she thought she did. Angella found her and put her back on her feet. She met Glimmer and they formed The Princesses alongside Bow, Mermista, Netossa, and Spinerella. She found her new place and her home. She found a family.

The tears started coming. This is why Adora can't come here. It's too painful. But Adam would be here if it was  _ her  _ unable to remember what happened ten minutes ago. He'd be at her bedside no problem. He'd never lag or forget to see her. Because he's noble and she's…

Well…

She wiped her eyes. She can't hide behind the sword forever. Here she is, completely vulnerable and a crying mess. The perfect target for enemies. Especially after a giant heist where people would be searching for her. She shouldn't be like this.

"Good talk." Adora cleared her throat and walked out the room, closing the door behind her gently. She found the hallway completely empty except for a nurse at the end. Perfect.

When her fingers closed around the flash drive, she pulled it out of her pocket. She made her way back to the vending machine, hoping she isn't making herself too obvious with the sniffling. It wasn't hard to pry the lock and open the glass.

A quick glance around and the hallway confirmed she's still just as secluded. She placed the flash drive at the back of the hubba bubba row. No one should take it, considering there's a good amount left. Besides, who's gonna pay a dollar twenty five when they see a piece of metal in place of a snack?

Once she's confident the flash drive is in place, she closed the door of the vending machine. Now back to the walk back to her motorcycle. She didn't even bid the receptionist goodbye. She walked out the glass doors, leaving Adam behind.

And with Adam left behind, Adora's past is gone too. Momentarily. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE WE GOOO
> 
> while I procrastinate on my other WIPs, I'mma write this cause endgame stiLL got me messed UP and I rewatched winter soldier so here we are


	2. Mama Just Killed A Man

Adora walked into her apartment with a heavy heart. 

She avoided going home for a while. She stopped by Seven Eleven (a convenience store, she learned) to grab a gallon of milk. The clerk definitely got way too excited that She-Ra showed up to her store. 

When she stepped into her apartment, something was… off. Something didn't sit right with the vibe. Usually, her instinct is right. She slowly opened the door all the way and let it click into place silently, locking it. 

Her record player started playing the soft trumpet of her favorite song from the forties. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. That's the song that played when… 

Something is definitely wrong. 

She eased her way into her apartment on guard. She kept her sword in her hand. Look, she doesn't usually have it on her twenty four seven. She left it in the umbrella rack next to the door. As if anyone would ever try robbing her. No one even knows where she lives. 

When she turned a corner and saw it. She almost chuckled because of how ironic this is. What, is visiting Adam not enough? Did that not cause a big enough hole in her heart? Did the universe have to show her a giant middle finger? 

"I don't remember giving you a key," Adora said when she addressed Angella sitting in one of the armchairs. 

Angella laughed to herself and groaned when she sat up. "Bitch, please. Do you really think I need one?" The song continued playing, goosebumps rising on her arms. "Glimmer and Perfuma went to the apartment. They kicked me out."

"I didn't know Glimmer still lived with you." Adora lowered her sword and walked farther into the room. "Or that she's finally going out with Perfuma. Although she did only tell me about her earlier today…"

Angella stayed silent for a second, clearly considering her next choice of words. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me."

"Yeah, I know." Adora walked to her light switch, ignoring Angella's eyes carefully watching her move. She turned the light on. "That's the issue here."

A panicked expression crossed Angella's face. The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. never gets scared. The only thing that's ever come remotely close to being slightly terrified is Glimmer going through the wormhole. But she got up from her seat, turned the light off in a hurry and raised an arm, indicating she needed it to be silent. She sat back down as if nothing happened. 

Adora skillfully examined the way Angella moved. She watched how the older woman typed in a frenzy on her off brand Walmart phone for security measures to ensure she doesn't get hacked. 

_ EARS EVERYWHERE  _

Oh. 

Her shoulders literally slumped. She's so done with today and as much as she's prepared to fight at any given time and as pissed as she is about her apartment, today has been an emotional one. It's well past midnight. She just wants to go to bed at this point. 

She searched with her eyes to find any bugs or listening devices. It would be difficult to spot anything with the naked eye. But she's on high alert now. And Adora isn't letting anyone barge into her apartment unwanted and try to listen in on her conversations, which is exactly what's happening now. 

"I hate to have to do this," Angella moved her head side to side. "But I have nowhere else to go. None of the other Princesses are close enough. I'd get there by morning anyways. This is the only place I had to crash."

"Bow?"

Angella gave a small smile. "Currently not in commission." To everyone, that sounds more like code for 'someplace I can't mention doing something I have to keep secret so I must withhold this information.' It's completely correct, but not because she wants to keep this a secret. But because whoever's listening can't know where the others are at. 

The trumpet skipped a note. How? Adora got distracted from the weird music when she noticed Angella raise her phone extremely close to her face. No one behind her would be able to see it. She quickly deleted whatever she had on there in the first place and retyped. 

_ SHIELD GOT CORRUPTED  _

Adora nodded in understanding, though she's one hundred percent confused. Angella directs S.H.I.E.L.D. and oversees everything. How would anybody be able to get anything done in secret? Not only that, but who managed to get everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep something as huge as a compromise under wraps? 

"Who else knows Glimmer and Perfuma kicked you out?" Adora crossed her arms to appear more casual. She often struggled to be non chalet. But standing all tense while talking with Angella when there's listening devices planted everywhere calls for her to try her best. 

Angella cleared her throat before deleting and typing again. She stood up, sighing as if dreading what's about to happen, spinning the phone screen around so Adora could see it. "Just a couple of friends. 

_ U AND ME _

"Your friends?" Adora raised an eyebrow. That's a word that didn't usually come out of Angella's mouth. Even with her own daughter, after Glimmer came out of the wormhole alive, she just patted her on the shoulder. She's apathetic with no friends, and that's why Adora let her eyes slightly widen in surprise. "Is that what we are now?"

Angella sighed again and stared up at the ceiling. She definitely knew this was coming. But her face did soften, if only the tiniest amount, when she turned back to Adora. "In complete honesty, that's up to you."

They stayed staring at each other with only the sound of the trumpet playing. Neither said anything, but Angella got the message of urgency across with only her eyes. Adora didn't know what to do or how to help. She doesn't even know what the current situation is. 

A loud  _ boom  _ sounded through her apartment. 

But wait! There's more! Two more booms rang through Adora's ears, completely fucking up her walls. A Brooklyn apartment isn't the cheapest, and neither is the ambulance ride to the hospital. Her first instinct is to grab Angella and protect her, but she noticed the shots go through the other's chest. 

Angella landed on the floor, a painful grunt accompanying her. Adora glanced out the window where the shots had come from. She focused her attention back on Angella, who's currently writhing in pain, when nothing but pitch black met her vision from the outside. 

She crouched down and grabbed one of Angella's arms, dragging her behind her kitchen counter where she'd be secluded. Staying low, she ran to the corner where she'd left her sword, taking it with her when she ran back to Angella. 

Nothing else went through. No other shots. But Angella grasped at her arm with a grip too firm. "Did Bow give you the flash drive?" Adora nodded, unable to talk. Angella's face contorted in pain, heavy breathing and coughing making it hard to speak. "Don't… trust any.. anyone." She put her head against the hard tile before going unconscious.  

Adora soaked in the advice. She stood and took her phone out of her pocket to call S.H.I.E.L.D., or an ambulance. A knocking at her door startled them. She pocketed her phone and turned immediately, sword raised and ready to attack. 

"Adora Carrero?" A male voice. The man invited himself into her apartment, a gun raised towards the window. "Carrero, I am Agent Fifteen. I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D. special service and more important and relevant," he nodded to Angella on the floor. "I'm with her."

She tried to remember where she'd seen this guy before today before it clicked in her head. "Rogelio?"

Rogelio didn't make any indication that he heard, or even that he cared enough to respond to her. He noticed the unconscious heap of Angella on the floor. "I've been given orders to protect you."

"You've been given orders?" Adora didn't appreciate being ignored. "Whose?"

A brief moment of silence followed before Rogelio started breathing heavy. Or maybe it's because he couldn't breath at all. He crouched next to his director. "Hers." Adora followed suit, bending down to get level with the newcomer. 

The only person who had a brain cell in this room immediately went to Rogelio. He did the smart thing and checked the pulse of the newly shot Angella. He gasped and tucked his hand into himself, in the process pulling his walkie talkie out of his back pocket. "Angella is down. There's no response. I need medical backup ASAP!"

Another solid seven seconds of silence before the walkie beeped and someone responded. "We have a visual on the shooter."

Adora stood and checked outside the window again. She saw the reflection of what she assumed is a person and something shiny. She didn't bother grabbing a coat, instead reaching for her sword. The necessities. "Tell whoever is in that walkie that I'm on it and in pursuit."

The stairs would've been much easier. But why take the stairs when you could do things the flashy way and jump out the window? She leaped outside, the sting from the shattering glass hardly affecting her. 

She landed in the building being constructed next to her apartment, crashing through that window as well. She rolled onto her feet and started running as fast as she could. The insurance companies must love her for all the property damage she's done. She gazed up and noticed the ceiling is only metal poles and not an actual roof yet.

The shooter ran above her, sprinting. While Adora has a love for running and easily beats other people at it, she quickly found herself having some level of difficulty keeping up with the shooter. What the hell? 

A set of double doors lay ahead of her. She didn't let up for a second, speeding up in fact. The doors broke, and she found herself inside of the finished part of the building. She jumped on top of tables and chairs to give her the speed she needs. When she turned a corner, she couldn't stop and instead used the wall to propel her forward, making a huge hole. Another set of doors proved to be no problem when she busted through them. 

She didn't realize that there's a window at the end of this hallway until she saw the shooter drop down in front of it and onto the next building rooftop over. Adora sprinted as fast as she could, hurtling herself at the window with enough force to shatter it and land on the rooftop with extra momentum to stand up. 

Adora saw how the shooter prepared themselves to jump and go on with their escape plan. With the shooter's back to him, she assumed that she'd have the perfect kill shot, or at least mame this dude. 

Instead, the shooter turned around and caught the sword with a metal arm. 

No one has ever done that. 

Adora stared at the shooter in shock. Their masked face and dead look in the eyes made goosebumps crawl on her skin. She's breathless and watching as they now handled a sword made of the strongest, most powerful metal in the world. 

The shooter paused and chucked the sword back, blade aimed straight for her stomach. She caught it by the side of the blade, tiny cuts prickling her hand. The force of the throw made her skirt back. She stared at the ground in shame that a regular person was able to stop her. 

When she looked back up, the shooter was no longer standing on the roof. It's only been a split second since she turned away! She ran to the edge of the building, breathless, and peered down at the ground. She almost yelled in frustration when no one was visible on the floor. 

Adora slumped against the hard stone, throwing her feet over the edge to allow her feet to dangle. She has got to catch her breath. She hasn't been this tired from a battle since the attack on New York. 

But she couldn't help but wonder… Who the hell was that? 

*

Adora stared into the glass pane when Bow showed up. 

Bow ran into the hospital, pushing past employees and commoners. He pulled up next to her as she stared at the unconscious corpse of her boss and what's pretty much her friend. Angella had said it's up to her, after all. 

The blood that stained dirty hospital rags scared her more than she'd like to admit. "Is he going to make it?" Bow asked, eyes trained on the vacant eyepatch. 

"I don't know," Adora admitted. The heartbeat line is slowly flat lining. She has got to call Glimmer to get over here before it became too late. The girl had already lost her dad. She wouldn't handle the loss of her mother. 

"Please tell me you got the guy or something." He gripped her forearm as he stared daggers into her. She didn't look at him, instead focusing on Angella as they cleaned her. 

She sighed. The question is inevitable and he'd only continue to push if he didn't get answers now. "The shooter's fast. He's strong." She swiped her arm away. "He had a metal arm. I couldn't stop him."

The assistant director of S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't been seen for a while. But Huntara did show herself, standing next to Bow. Neither of them made any indication that she'd arrived, but they saw her loud and clear. 

"Excuse me please."

She stepped away from Bow and Huntara. When she pulled her phone out of her pocket, she ignored all of the missed calls and texts she had. Most of them were from Rogelio. She almost sent him a quick text before remembering that Glimmer could lose her  _ mom. _ She dialed the number. 

"Hello?" Glimmer answered on the fifth ring. "Are you in trouble?"

"Hi, Glimmer," Adora spoke softly into the phone, unaware of the commotion going on inside of the hospital room. "Where are you right now?"

"My aunt had some Iron Machine panel to do in Mexico," Glimmer explained. "Why? Is everything okay over there?"

"What's the fastest you could leave?"

"Adora?" Glimmer mumbled something to someone that Adora couldn't hear. "Sorry, this event is wild, man. Hey, could you do me a favor while you're in D.C.?"

"Okay," Adora agreed. But if Glimmer could stop talking for  _ one second  _ she'd be able to get out what she needs to. 

"You remember that one girl you guys battled? Scorpia? Some german scientist captured her after that boat explosion thing you guys did. He wants to experiment on her and from what I've heard, she's willing. Perfuma is someone else they have because… god knows why. Just do something about that please."

Adora sighed. So the girl Entrapta wanted to shoot her shot with and the other girl who got her ass kicked are in trouble. Great, just great. But it seems they have bigger issues. "I'll call Mermista if she's chilling in Asgard. If she's got something then I'll see if Netossa is ready to turn green again."

"Why can't you do it?" She could practically see Glimmer tilting her head in confusion. 

"Glim, you might want to sit down for this." Adora paused, giving Glimmer some time to take her advice. "Your mom came by my apartment earlier. She said you were with Perfuma but she was just saying that because people were following her…" How does she explain this? "Someone shot her and… It's not looking too good."

Silence. Glimmer didn't say anything for another minute or so before she hung up. Adora sighed in frustration. She dialed Mermista to see if she could take care of the other situation no one else has time for. 

"What do you want?" Mermista asked in a groggy voice when she answered the call. 

"Nice to see you too," Adora sarcastically replied. "You've got a mission. Scorpia and Perfuma are two girls who got captured by a german scientist because it's horrible to be experimented on for the sake of a war, know what I mean? Anyways, it's your job to rescue them." Before Mermista could continue complaining, already having groaned out of frustration, Adora bid thanks and hung up. 

"An untraceable Soviet made rifle," Huntara appeared next to her, basically dragging Adora back to the hospital room window. "When I say untraceable, I really mean it. There's no other information I could get on the weapon the shooter used, but-"

Bow greeted her return with a nod, but the trio paused when the flatlining sound rang muffed through the room. They watched as the doctors ran around the room, bringing anything they could to resurrect Angella. No no no she  _ can't  _ be flat lining. There's no way no-

"Don't do this to me, Angella," Bow whispered under his breath. She felt for him, too. He considered Angella his weird hybrid mom/older sister. He doesn't have any family anyways, but if she were to die… 

"Defibrillators!" A doctor yelled. Huntara stood her ground with tears in her eyes. They've been best friends since whenever. And Angella found her in the ice! What would happen if the person who brought the Princesses together died? 

The defibrillators did nothing. Adora turned on her heel and walked away. If she'd known this would happen with visiting Adam, she never would've came in the first place. She stopped by the vending machine, making sure the hard drive stayed in place. It had. Nothing moved or changed. She sat down in an armrest, pulling her sweater hoodie over her head. 

She couldn't even catch the shooter… Bow walked over to her a couple minutes later, resting a hand on her shoulder. "They said the time of death is one fifteen am."

Huntara sat down next to her. "I'm taking the body back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Did you guys want to see her before she's transported?"

Bow never cries. His shaky breath and unsteady movements have never been seen before. But the silent tears rolled down his face, locking eyes with Huntara since Adora stared at something in front of her. Bow pretty much shoved her shoulder and walked away, making her way past S.H.I.E.L.D. security that made their way into the hospital. 

"I should take care of that." Adora nodded a goodbye to Huntra before rushing to meet Bow. "Bow!" He yelled down the corridor. 

Bow whipped around to face her. "Why was Angella in your apartment?"

Adora sighed helplessly, trying not to get blamed for this. But she should've seen the shooter sooner and stopped it… "I don't know," she shrugged. 

"She-Ra!" Someone yelled. "They need you back at S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

"Give me a second," she said, never breaking eye contact with the silent challenge she has with Bow. 

"They need you now."

Her eye twitched. "I'm on my way."

Bow smiled. "You're a terrible liar." He stalked away, going in the opposite direction. She watched him carefully eye the vending machine. She shook her head, heading towards the S.H.I.E.L.D. security guard. 

She tugged the guard's shoulder. "You're going to give me at least fifteen minutes."

The guard regarded her with dark eyes, looking pretty terrified of her. He grabbed his walkie talkie from his collar. "She-Ra will be there soon. Traffic is bad. Give her twenty minutes."

She whispered a thanks before going back to the vending machine. She peered into the glass, ready to retrieve the flash drive. But the whole hubba bubba row was gone; including the precious piece of metal. 

Adora mentally want into her 'oh shit' mode. She unofficially signed up for the task of protecting the damn thing and now she lost it. Not only that, but it's the same thing that caused her initial rift between her and Bow. Now this is very bad. She has no idea whose hands its in. 

The reflection of Bow on the glass scared her. Him making a bubble with the pink gum and proceeding to pop it made her insides burn with anger as well as confuse her. Is he upset about the death of Angella or not? 

She did a quick scan of the hallway before deciding that this conversation could not happen here. She calmly turned around before grabbing Bow by the arms and pushing him into an empty room, shoving him against the wall. 

"Where is it?" She growled, taking off her hood. 

"Safe," Bow replied. 

"Do better."

"I gave it to you anyways," Bow glanced at the door when a shadow passed by. 

"What's on it?" Adora stepped into his personal space more than any person should ever dare when it comes to him. 

"I don't know," he admitted. 

Adora pulled him forward before jolting him back into the wall. "Stop  _ lying."  _

Bow bit on his lip to stop himself from laughing. "I only act like I know everything, Adora."

She almost groaned in frustration. "That whole crying bit was just to make you look innocent in front of Huntra, wasn't it? Bet you know more about Angella's death than everyone else." When he went silent, she pressed him even further into the wall, grabbing his collar and getting real nice and close. "I'm not going to repeat myself."

Bow searched her eyes, but ultimately knew he couldn't get out of this one. "I know who killed Angella." She hardened her glare to get him to talk. "Most people don't know she exists. The people that do call her the Hoarde Soldier. She's responsible for over two dozen murders in the last fifteen years."

"So this killer is a…" She racked her brain for the right word. "She's a ghost story."

He went silent before pressing his lips into a thin line. "Five years ago in Budapest with Spinerella our car got its tires blown out and we got in a crazy car accident. We survived, but the Hoarde Soldier was there. I was covering our driver, but the girl shot him through me." He lifted his shirt, revealing a scar from a bullet. "No more swimming."

Adora looked down and pretended not to be surprised. She knew Bow had a hard past, though she didn't know it all. "I bet Glimmer's pool party was horrible, then."

Bow shrugged at her lame joke. "Going after her is a dead end. Believe me, I know." He lifted the flash drive they'd gotten on the ship. "Like you said, it's a ghost story."

"You're going to call Glimmer and explain this." She lowered his hand, stepping backwards so she could leave and find out why S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted her immediately. "Then we'll see what the ghost wants."

*

When Adora departed from the hospital, she found herself in the hallway leading to Mara's office. 

But not before passing by her damn security guard. How about they make sure she goes to sleep, dammit. She'd been awake for too long and needed to sleep, but no one cares. Only that she does her duty as She-Ra, and it kinda sucks when other people only care for her when she's doing something for them. 

"She-Ra," Rogelio greeted as he walked past her, going god knows where. 

"Babysitter," she retaliated with a smile. She enjoyed knowing she annoys everyone she comes into contact with. 

She walked into the double sliding doors of Mara's office. Now, she hasn't met the secretary of S.H.I.E.L.D., but she knows this meeting is long overdue. She shook hands with Mara for a hello. "Ma'am."

"She-Ra," Mara clasped their hands together. "The honor is all mine." As soon as they stepped closer to the desk sitting in the room, however, Adora saw a picture of Mara and Angella, which basically punched her in the gut. 

Mara must've noticed the sudden change in mood because she accepted it with no problem. "They took that photo two years ago." She sat down on a sofa, and Adora followed the seating. "Now, listen, Carrero. There's no beating around the bush. Why was Angella in your apartment earlier tonight?"

Adora looked away sadly. Political figures were going to be the first to put the blame on her, and she simply wasn't ready to hear whatever bullshit the secretary had to say. "I don't know."

"Did you know about the microphones?" Before she could open her mouth to answer, Mara continued. "Because I don't believe she told you everything. Angella warned me because she was the one who ordered them in place."

Complete and utter  _ silence.  _ Angella did not tell her that. Did she really have S.H.I.E.L.D. put listening devices in her apartment? It made sense since she knew about them, and it'd make even more sense considering she said S.H.I.E.L.D. got compromised. She ordered the bugs and then got screwed over. But the aspect of them anyways… How long have those things been there for? 

"There's something I want you to see." Mara clicked a button on the table and a screen flashed to life. A bank account transaction is not what was expected. "This money went through twenty seven accounts. Twenty seven before the money landed in Angella's pocket. When the money disappeared, that ship with Scorpia appeared and now she's part of a science experiment."

"Because god forbid someone let a scientist experiment on them for the sake of a war." It had been the same joke Adora used at the hospital, but everyone seemed so indifferent to the whole thing. She didn't like it. "But are you saying Angella called that ship together? Why would she do that?"

Mara shrugged. "I can only assume things. One of those things is she needed someone to get a hold of secret information without making it obvious she's getting it to them. She had to do it somehow, huh."

Angella needed Bow to get that flash drive. She needed him to access that information without blatantly giving it to him. The whole boat was a set up? If so, then why have the hostages or even string her along? It would've been fine as a solo mission for him. 

This isn't adding up. 

"As soon as she closed that account, she got killed," Mara continued. "Maybe she was funding them all along."

Adora chuckled. "If you really knew Angella, then you would know that's not true."

"Well why do you think you're here?"

Mara stood up, giving Adora no choice but to follow her. "We wanted to build a better world. It's a shame she couldn't be part of it." She paused, the tension growing rapidly. "Now, you were the last person to see her and I don't think that was an accident. I can tell you don't think so either."

She didn't answer. She knew there had to be some kind of reasoning as to why Angella would stop by her apartment before going to Glimmer or even calling up the rest of the Princesses. The three words on her phone earlier this morning. 

_ SHIELD GOT CORRUPTED  _

"I'm going to ask you one more time." The stiffness in Mara's jaw showed business, but her eyes glistened with amusement. "What was she doing in your apartment tonight?"

Adora raised her chin to present herself as confident. "She told me not to confide or trust in anyone."

"I wonder," Mara tapped her desk. "If that meant her as well."

She couldn't help the smile threatening to escape. She bit her tongue because the answers are painfully obvious now, and it's been a long, long night. "I'm sorry, those were her last words. Excuse me."

Without her suit, walking outside was going to be a problem. But the secretary has a tendency to get on her nerves. Her sword stayed strapped to her back at almost all times. Like hell she'd ever let herself outside completely vulnerable. 

"She-Ra?" Mara called out. "Today, a good friend of mine died. And I'd like to know why. I will find out." Adora turned away from the door to face her. "One way or another."

Adora nodded. Then they'd both have answers, wouldn't they? "Understood." She continued her path outside and made her way to the elevator, hopeful she'd get some kind of sleep, even if it is currently two in the morning. 

The elevator took less than ten seconds to arrive. A guy already stood there, smiling when he saw her. She stepped inside, leaning her head against the glass and trying to keep her eyes open. 

"I'm sorry for what happened with Angella," the man said. 

"Thank you," Adora accepted as they stopped at another floor, three more people getting in. It's bound to be hectic as everyone is running around due to the assassination.

As the elevator continued down, the mood inside quickly changed. Two guys were talking quietly amongst themselves, but the drumming of one of their fingers against their thigh and the sweating of the other raised alarms in her head.

Another floor stop. Another three people in. 

She studied the scene. They all had their hands tucked inside their pant pockets. The seven guys had formed a circle around her, making it impossible for her to get off if she wanted to. Oh, so that's what this is. 

"Before we get started, does anyone wanna get out?"

It's too early for this shit, and she's been awake more than necessary. When the guy in front of her brought his electricity wand on her, she practically rolled her eyes. 

Guy number two and three held her arms as number four got her in a chokehold. But seriously, why did no one ever go for her legs? She kicked at guy number five, but failed when the handle to his briefcase turned out to be a handcuff. He wrapped it around her wrist and her arm immediately attracted to metal. 

So it's a magnet? Fun. Her arm stretched out more than she would've liked it, but she used it to her advantage. She used her legs to kick savagely at the men in front of her, swinging her free arm at guy number two. The momentum from everything overpowered the magnet, freeing her arm but the cuff stayed on. 

She elbowed guy number four and he released her from the chokehold. Guy number six kicked her in the stomach, barley winding her. But the force of the kick caused her to hit her back against the elevator wall, the magnet connecting to a piece of metal again. 

By kicking off of number seven, she landed like a spider on the wall. She kicked off of it, the power of the metal becoming essentially useless as she bounced off of number two. She landed on the shoulders of number one, thrusting her elbow into the top of his head, knocking him unconscious. 

He crashed into number three and four, bringing them into the state of sleeping as well. Number five pushed her onto the floor, but she straddled his head with her thighs and squeezed, suffocating him just enough to not kill him, but at least to knock him out. When he fell onto the floor, she stood with record breaking speed. Six came at her, but was too slow. She raised her fist and he ran into it, basically punching himself with her hand and falling into a heap of limbs. 

"Hey, Princess," number seven said, holding two batons in between them. "I just want you to know this isn't personal."

Seven swung at her, landing his baton with a well timed strike to her stomach. The baton charged with electricity, making her insides feel like jelly. She grabbed him by the collar, nonetheless, and flicked him onto the ceiling, comatosing before he even hit the ground. 

"It kind of feels personal," Adora mumbled under her breath, panting. She noticed her sword on the ground, kicking it upwards by the hilt and catching the firm vibranium in her hand. 

She hadn't realized that the emergency stop button was pressed. She clicked it, the elevator doors opening to see a flurry of S.H.I.E.L.D. security waiting for her with guns. "Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air," one of them ordered. 

Instead of listening, she did the number one thing she's best at: disobeying orders. She rammed her sword through the broken glass and cut one of the wires, the elevator dropping at neck breaking speeds. She had to grab one of the handlebars to steady herself. 

When it reached closer to the bottom, she hit the emergency stop. When that obviously didn't work, she thrust her hand out to pause the elevator's movements. She ripped the doors open but shut it quickly when she saw more agents coming towards her. She heard the various, "Give it up, Carerro!" and, "Open the doors!" plus the confusing, "I'm telling Glimmer if you don't open the door this second!"

Either way, she figured the better option would be hurtling herself out a window. With her suit, it would've been no problem. But without it? She didn't realize how stupid her plan had been. She used her sword to brace for impact, but something like… something like a shield probably would've been better. She landed on the ground, sword taking most of the impact. It still hurt like a bitch, but at least she's somewhat safe now. 

She stood up, gritting her teeth in the process. She had to run from here as fast as possible. They would search her apartment. It seems that sleep is out of the equation for a little while longer. She'd have to find somewhere else to stay. She sent a simple message to Bow as she ran, hoping he was still awake. 

_ SOS NEED PLACE TO STAY _

Since she'd come straight from the hospital, she still had her motorcycle. She straddled it in a hurry, not bothering with a helmet or her seatbelt. She could see the doors of S.H.I.E.L.D. closing. She pressed her foot down heavy on the gas and pulled the handle bars up so she could leap through the closing doors. 

A plane (a whole ass  _ plane)  _ flew above her, saying something about standing down. But she didn't listen. She sped up, narrowly dodging the numerous shots fired at her. For two in the goddamn morning, this is pretty extreme. She threw her sword at the plane, lodging itself in one of the outside control panels. 

She jumped off her motorcycle, landing on the plane so she could retrieve her sword. She had no idea if there's autopilot engaged or what, but she became suspicious when the plane made no attempt to throw her off. She stabbed her sword into the engine, exploding the large vessel in a cloud of fire. 

When she fell back to the solid floor on one knee, she dug her sword into the earth to break most of her fall. She watched as the plane flew into the water, and she made a run for it. She dashed as fast as she could. 

She unlocked her phone to see if Bow had texted her back. He sent her an address not too far from S.H.I.E.L.D. She noticed her leather jacket slightly singed, taking it off and slugging it over her shoulder. She sprinted to the address, lungs burning and eyes drooping with exhaustion. 

"Bow, answer the door  _ now!"  _ Adora said as she pounded on the door. 

"Jesus, lady!" Bow opened the door with a toothbrush in his mouth. "You come to my temporary house and almost knocked the damn door down!" He ushered her inside, more enraged about his door than her appearing at his doorstep freshly barbecued. 

"I'm going to sleep now and I don't care whose room I'm in." Adora ignored his groans of protest as she made her way inside a room that was apparently his. Or at least she assumed by the various dangerous weapons strewn about. 

Adora peeled her shirt off, laid in bed, and honest to god, started crying. 

So much had happened-  _ too  _ much had happened. She went to go see Adam for the first time in forever. The woman who found her when she'd woken up from the ice died when she wasn't quick enough to assert the situation. And someone new showed up and easily caught a sword coming at high speeds, all while hardly flinching. Plus she's pretty sure she's been marked a fugitive for whatever reason. 

She brought her hands up to her mouth to muffle the soft sobs. She sat up so she wouldn't get the pillow all messy. The tears freely fell down her face, splashing onto her arm. Sleep deprivation always made her emotional. 

_ Everything  _ made her emotional. She just didn't always show it. 

*

"First rule of going on the run is not to run, but walk."

"First rule of hosting me is not to wake me up in the morning when I've had a very rough night."

Adora didn't enjoy being awoken to go on secret missions to the mall, but she understood the importance when Bow dragged her to get the information on the flash drive. Information Angella apparently wanted found. 

She could, however, enjoy her clothing. With a red and blue flannel, she finally felt in her element. Bow placed a pair of glasses on the bridge of her nose and she went with it, finding no reason to really complain. Other than the fact that it's a shit disguise. But no one has mobbed her yet so she should be fine. 

They walked into an Apple store and she made eye contact with the cashier. She smiled and brought her baseball cap down lower over her eyes, covering her face as Bow pulled his hoodie on his head. They took up a vacant computer, standing side by side. 

Bow held the flash drive to the USB port. "This thing is really powerful. As soon as it's booted up, S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are."

"So how much time do we have?"

"About…" Bow plugged the flash drive into the computer. "Nine minutes from now." The drive glowed an electric blue hue. He hummed as he examined the information, Adora scanning the area. "Angella sure was right about the ship. Somebody is trying to cover something up."

Her paranoia is catching up. Bow said something about the code rewriting itself which, in her opinion, didn't sound good at all. At any moment, someone could pop up and discover them for what they're actually doing, which definitely isn't some casual browsing. 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. developed this system to track harmful and dangerous malware," Bow explained. "If I could trace this back to its origins, I might be able to find out where exactly this thing came from."

Adora willed herself to be completely still when an Apple employee stood next to them. "Can I help you guys with anything?" The guy asked. 

She realized this was her time to shine and turn on the charm. She smiled a bright, pearly white smile at the worker to distract him from the illegal activity they're doing. "Oh, no." She put her hand on Bow's chest, trying her best to keep up the happy attitude. "My fiance and I were just browsing some honeymoon destinations."

"Oh, yeah," he wrapped his arms around her middle. "We're getting married!" He detangled himself from the hug, sensing that she could do this just fine. 

"Ah, congratulations!" The man clapped for them. "Where are y'all thinking about going?"

The laptop beeped, the screen reading New Jersey. "New Jersey," she giggled. Her eyes automatically went wide. She watched How I Met Your Mother with Glimmer and knew that nothing good comes out of New Jersey. 

"Oh!" The employee feigned excitement. He probably knew how bad New Jersey is. "Oh! Now I know why that looks familiar!" He stared at her a bit longer, and her heart dropped with dread because she feared he would recognize her. "I have the exact same glasses!"

"Wow," Bow mumbled, unimpressed. "I see it now. You guys are practically twins."

The man laughed and gestured at her muscular biceps through her flannel. "Man, I wish. You, m'lady, are a beautiful specimen."

Adora didn't know how to handle that, especially because the guy knows she's here with her quote on quote fiance, but she nodded with uncertainty. The man showed the pair his worker ID as he backed away. "If y'all need anything else, I'm Sebastian." He stepped away, swinging his hair over his shoulder. 

She looked outside the window to distract herself from the uncomfortable situation that just happened, but noticed multiple guys walking in all black suits. Now that meant only one thing: S.H.I.E.L.D. found them. 

"You said we had nine minutes," Adora impatiently hit his arm. "Hurry up."

"Relax," he chided like no big deal. He did a couple of other cool, computery things before smiling to himself. "Got it." He zoomed in on the exact location. "Do you know it?"

Her heart fell when she saw the Bright Moon on the screen, but quickly put herself back together. "I used to." She grabbed the flash drive from the computer, not caring if they weren't done here. "Let's get the hell out of here." She left the door without checking if Bow was behind her. 

"Hey!" Bow yelled as he ran after her. "You can't do this without me!"

She ignored him and began surveillancing the area. She noticed the security immediately. "There's a couple behind and in front. Some are heading straight for us."

Bow put his arm around Adora, holding her uncomfortably close to his side. "I'm just going to laugh at something you said." He chuckled ridiculously close to her ear, and she took that as a cue to smile at him as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent passed by them. 

As soon as they were out of sight, he still didn't release her. He kept her in his arms, trying to be discreet about turning back and searching for anyone following them. He led her onto the escalator, though he took the lead and stepped onto the step in front of her. 

She toyed a bit with the curls sitting atop his head when she felt him tense up beneath her fingertips. She couldn't tell what caused him to suddenly be on such high alert (more than usual) because of how he'd stepped in front of her. 

"Kiss me," he demanded. 

"Bitch,  _ what?"  _ Adora stared helplessly at him. 

"Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable and look away," Bow explained, grasping the collar of her flannel. 

"Yes, they do," she agreed. "So we should not-"

Bow completely ignored her as he grabbed her face and pressed his lips to hers. She hadn't been kissed since before the ice, and even then… She had no idea what the fuck to do with her hands, so she settled then on grabbing his face as well. He let out an annoyed sigh into her mouth, settling on her hips with a gentle touch. 

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the man from S.H.I.E.L.D. turn away from them. They pulled away, not bothering to leave any kind of lingering. Bow got himself in his proper place again on the step below her. 

"Still uncomfortable?" Bow asked as they got to the bottom of the escalator.

"Uncomfortable isn't the word I would use," she clarified as she followed him. "I would say lesb-"

"So," he smirked. "Does Princess She-Ra know how to hotwire a car?"

Adora sighed. 

*

"We're  _ borrowing  _ it," Adora said as they drove into New Jersey. 

Bow smiled and propped his feet up, and that's all it took for her to know this isn't going to be returned. "Sure, bud."

"I'm being serious here," she glanced at him, careful not to take her eyes off the road for too long. He hit her knee with a random pack of napkins. "And take your feet off the dash."

He clearly didn't want to sit through a lecture, so he actually listened for once, but not before staring at a map. "I've got to know… Was that your first kiss since 1945?"

"That bad?" Damn, and she didn't think it was all that horrible either. 

"That's not what I'm saying."

"It's what it sounds like."

"I was just wondering," the small smile, aka code for worst kisser in the world. 

"Fine!" She threw one hand up in defense. "It's my first kiss with a guy since! Happy?!" She groaned in embarrassment. "I'm ninety-five, not dead."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "What? You've got a special something on the side?"

She almost laughed at the accusation. "I don't know if you believe this or not, but it's actually pretty difficult to find someone with the same life experience."

"So what are you looking for?" 

What _was_ she looking for? The only other person who she had ever considered and almost had in her arms fell off a train. Before she could ever go on a rescue mission, she flew a plane into the arctic. Not easy to find a partner who can relate. 

"The only thing I'm looking for got lost in the forties." She rested her head against the headrest as she contemplated everything. 

Would she ever find anything else? She's not unwilling to go out and meet new people. But she couldn't find herself going. Sure, she could learn to move on. She hasn't been outside of the ice for very long though. Just long enough to fight a bunch of aliens. 

They stayed silent, listening to the soft sound of the radio. 

*

"Ohhh," Bow understood when they walked up to the sign. "So  _ that's  _ how you knew where we were."

She stared at the Bright Moon etched onto the solid silver. Adora shuddered just from its presence. "Yeah." She climbed the chain link fence that gated off the property. "Now let's go before someone out in the middle of the woods finds us."

They continued on into the building, not really caring that they're trespassing. There's worse things they could do. Bow allowed her to take the lead once they stepped inside the building. She knows they're searching for some type of secret military thing, and she knew exactly where this place would hide stuff like that. 

The first location she had to try out was the bookshelf. It could still be operational, and she doesn't doubt that something could be in here. Even if that something is a homeless person than so be it. 

She dug her short fingernails into the bottom of the bookshelf. She lifted it effortlessly, sliding the books off of the shelf. She paced in the secret hallway carefully, but no one would be here anyways. This place got closed down when she got frozen in the ice. 

"Impressive," Bow noted. 

They stopped when they found the computer room. She booted everything up with the button they would use back in the day, and it  _ worked.  _ A bright blue glow stayed in their eyesight, although they got distracted by the huge computer talking to them. 

"Initiate system?" It asked, typing at the same time. 

"Hmm," Bow appreciated. He pulled the keyboard to him and typed,  _ YES.  _

Bow strode over to the multiple power sources. He slipped the hard drive in, prepared for some kind of ambush. Instead, the computer beeped and a green figure came to life. "Adora Carerro? Born back in 1918. Accompanied by Bow Scribner, born 1987 I see."

"Some kind of recording," Bow stated the obvious. 

"I am not a recording!" The computer bellowed. "It's  _ her  _ fault! She's the reason I'm not the same man I used to be during the war. Oh, but I still have the same mind…"

A different computer off to the side flashed a picture of… of  _ Hordak!?  _ She stared at it in shock, wondering how Hordak could possibly be alive. And if he's alive, then who knows who else is still around. 

"You know this guy?" Bow asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. 

She observed around the room, walking around to see any kind of secrets. "Lord Hordak was a German scientist who wanted nothing more than to steal the moonstone. From what I know, he's been dead for years now."

Hordak laughed at her. "German? Please, I'm from Beast Island! Obviously, I'm Swiss. Look around you. Can't you tell? I've never been more Swiss or  _ alive  _ in my life! I saved my mind in over two thousand feet of data banks because I was diagnosed with a terminal illness. You two… You're standing in my brain."

Adora uncomfortably adjusted the sleeve of her flannel, sword in hand and all. "How did you get here?"

"I tried to help S.H.I.E.L.D. I also helped myself!"

"That's… that's not possible. No, Hydra died with you."

"You know what they say…" Hordak teased. "You cut off one head and another will grow in its place."

"Huh, oh yeah?" She challenged. "Prove it."

Hordak stayed silent for a bit before saying, "Accessing Archive."

The pair switched to a computer screen with another image of Hordak during the war. "Hydra was created by people who believed the world needed cleansing. We the people have too much freedom and cannot be trusted. Even trying to take that freedom and they resist…"

The screen changed to a clip of Adora in her She-Ra suit running into battle. "We couldn't do it by force. Somehow, humanity needed to give up their freedom willingly. When the war ended, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded and  _ I  _ became a part of it. Now, with me inside, a new group of Hydra grew within. A beautiful parasite…"

Bow glanced at her, and no words needed to be said to know they're thinking the same thing. "For over seventy years, Hydra has been inside of S.H.I.E.L.D. When you didn't cooperate with us, you decided you're against us."

"No," Bow shook his head. "No, that can't be right. It's impossible even. S.H.I.E.L.D. would've stopped you."

A newspaper headline with Micah's death showed on the screen. "Accidents happen," Hordak said. "For your own security, humanity has given up its freedom. Once we've completed with purifying, our new world will arise. We've already won, Princess. Your death will mean nothing when you take your place amongst the billions of-"

Adora didn't allow Hordak to finish. She drove her fist through one of the computers; the one with Hordak talking. Her hand held the hilt of the sword with a firm grip, the metal cutting into her skin. She wanted, overwhelmed with emotion and seeing the premature headlines of her death being broadcast. 

"As I was saying…" Hordak continued on another computer. 

She wasn't going to stand for his insults. She slammed her fist on the table next to the flash drive. "What's on this drive!?"

"Project Insight," Hordak answered. "It's an algorithm."

"What kind of algorithm?" Bow demanded. "Tell us what it does."

"Excellent question! Excellent question indeed. The unfortunate part?" Hordak chuckled. "You won't be alive to hear it."

The doors of the bunker began to close. She threw her sword to stop the gap from shutting, but all it did was shoot back at her. She caught the hilt in her hand, already searching for another exit. 

"Adora!" Bow yelled, staring at his phone. "We've got a big problem and it's nuclear and heading this way! We've got thirty seconds at most."

"Who fired it?" Adora asked. 

Bow swallowed. "S.H.I.E.L.D."

Hordak laughed at them again. "I am very sorry, but I have been stalling, Princess. Don't worry, friends. It's all better this way." 

Bow rushed to the flash drive to pull it out. They both ignored whatever bullshit Hordak was feeding them. They have to stay alive so they can figure out this whole Hydra/S.H.I.E.L.D. nonsense. 

"You're out of time, Adora."

Adora ripped the air vent off of the ground as the bunker exploded into flames, dragging them into the darkness of the collapsing building. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Chris Evans birthday so I thought 'wHy noT'
> 
> 9000 words of complete bUllsHiT


	3. How I Met Your Mother (for the second time)

Adora seriously wasn't having it. 

Before it hit noon, she did some illegal stuff in an Apple store, made out with Bow on an escalator, had a deep talk about relationships, found out Hordak's mind (?) is still alive, and managed to get caught in an explosion. 

It wasn't an easy feat to drag Bow out of the exploding bunker. It wasn't easy to get out of there unseen before any calvary (aka S.H.I.E.L.D.) arrived. It wasn't easy to find a place they could stay while they're high on a kill list. But the hardest part was showing up at Entrapta's doorstep unannounced. 

Okay, they didn't exactly mean to. But when she (finally) woke up Bow, he suggested they go somewhere familiar. Somewhere they could get to without struggle. When she said she didn't want to intervene on whatever Entrapta's plans for the day were, Bow stared at her with a straight face and knocked on the door. 

"Wait, no.." But the deed had been done. The most she could do was pull his arm back when Entrapta opened the door, orange carton in hand with a questioning gaze. 

Anyone else at S.H.I.E.L.D. would've arrested them. Anyone at Hydra would've killed them. All Entrapta did was walk away, put the carton of juice on a coffee table, and come back to the door with a small giggle. 

"I'm really sorry about this..." Adora sighed. "Look, we need a place to stay."

"Everyone, and I mean everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. has us on their kill list," Bow defended, leaning heavily on her side. 

Entrapta eyed the situation with caution, and opened her door wider. "Not everyone." She peeked outside for a minute longer before shutting the door behind her and closing the blinds. 

Then she took one look at the pair and grimaced. "Wow, you guys are  _ not  _ okay. I have some breakfast from earlier, unless you guys don't eat that kind of thing."

Now to mention it, Adora  _ is  _ starving. She didn't eat dinner when she came home from the hospital with Adam, never ate after encountering Mara, and Bow didn't give her the time. Some food would do her pretty good right now. 

Entrapta motioned at her table, to which the two sat down. Adora attacked the bagel immediately, not bothering with the jam or nutella. She poured herself a glass of orange juice from the carton Entrapta brought back as Bow nipped at his own bagel. 

"The big question is," Bow took a bite. "Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. launch a missile on us?"

Entrapta spread jam on her bagel as Adora thought, then she remembered the conversation from (technically) earlier. "Mara."

"Ah, that's great," Bow rolled his eyes. "Mara is at the most secure building in the world."

"She's not alone," Adora continued. "Hordak knows exactly who she is. Mara is at least working with the people closest to her."

"You know who's pretty close to her?" Bow drummed his fingers on the table. It was obvious that Angella's the answer, but that wouldn't do anymore. But his eyes lit up and he slammed the table in excitement when he realized. "Kyle. Blond kid, remember?"

_ Oh.  _

Now that poses a series of issues. She nodded her head and sighed, stressed out from trying to figure out a solution. "So now the question is how do the two most wanted people in D.C. kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for information in broad daylight?"

Entrapta chuckled and slapped a tan folder on the desk. "The answer is," she bit her bagel. "You don't."

"Ooh," Adora clapped her hands together, taking the folder in her hands. "What's this?"

"I guess you could call it a…" Entrapta searched for the right word. "A resume."

Bow snatched the folder from her grip. She tugged it back, and they compromised on keeping it in the middle. They stared at the pictures in amazement as he went, "Wait.. All of those missions!? They were you?"

They drew out the pictures with Entrapta in her military uniform, a jacket slung over one shoulder as she walked with a girl beside her with long, blonde hair. Adora ignored the other girl in the photograph and zeroed in on what would actually be important to their mission. 

"I was a super cool pilot and I still couldn't keep up with you, huh," Entrapta joked. She gave a knowing look as she slowly continued eating her bagel. 

Adora stood up, as did Bow. They examined the pictures carefully, to make sure they weren't being set up. When they went through almost everything, she lifted her head to see Entrapta smirking at them. 

"Oh, that's not all, baby." She put her bagel in her mouth as she stood and grabbed something else from a drawer: another folder. Instead of tossing it on the table, she handed it over. 

Adora held the file as if it were a ticking time bomb. At this point, it wouldn't hurt to be too safe. She stared at the giant red letters on top of the folder, reading it carefully as she deciphered any hidden meaning/clues. 

(Hint: There were none.)

**CLASSIFIED**

"Huh," Adora hummed. "I thought you were a pilot." She opened the folder a crack and got satisfied with what she saw. Now hopefully it wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. exclusive. Then again, her whole existence was a S.H.I.E.L.D. exclusive up until now. 

"Me?" Entrapta pointed to herself. "Genuinely being a pilot? With zero inventions? Impossible."

"Touche," Bow grasped at his heart. 

But Adora shook her head. This could be seen as stupid rather than noble, but this is someone who's never entangled themselves with the actual Princesses. She can't drag someone into this. "Entrapta, I can't ask you to do this for us."

Entrapta laughed.  _ "Girl!  _ She-Ra showed up at my house and she needs help! You really think I'mma sit this one out?"

*

Adora listened to the conversation over the communicators. 

She adjusted the sleeves of her flannel in case things got ugly. She rested her hands on the steering wheel of the grey car, knowing that at this very moment, Bow stood on top of a building with a gun laser pointed at Kyle's chest. 

Or at least he thinks it's a gun. In reality, Bow is probably up there, cackling to himself as he holds a super powerful laser pointer. Why bring actual ammunition if they could make believe the whole thing? 

Kyle ran into the car, laser pointer at his chest, with her. She started the car and didn't speak to him. Not when he tried to negotiate his way out of this. Bow and Entrapta gave her one option and that's to be the bad cop. Or at least until they got to the building. 

She dragged Kyle by the expensive material out of the car by his suit collar. The door opened automatically for her, saving some struggled. She pounded up the stairs, having found a convenient time when no civilians would be around. She kicked the door open and threw him onto the roof. 

Kyle backed away, terrified. She simply followed behind him, raising her chest to appear more confident. "Tell me everything about Hordak and his algorithm."

He reached the edge of the building, eyes near watering out of fear when Bow appeared beside her. "I don't know anything about it!"

"Bullshit," Adora exclaimed. "You spend a lot of time around Mara. You've gotta know something."

When he almost tipped over, he grasped blindly at the air. She grabbed his collar and held him, making sure he has a clear view of the ground beneath him. He glanced down and smiled knowingly at her. "What, are you gonna throw me off the roof? Because I know you don't normally do that, Carrero."

She pondered his accusation for less than a second, causally rocking her head side to side. "Yeah, you're right." She set him back down on the ledge. "It's not what I usually do." She took a step out of the way. "It's what he does."

Kyle didn't have time to react when Bow kicked him square in the chest, sending him hurtling off of the building. He yelled as he fell, but they already knew the plan. 

"Hey, has anyone talked to Glimmer yet?" Bow asked nonchalantly, the screams simply a background noise. "Or Castaspella for that matter?"

"I did, actually," Adora informed. "I called Glimmer back at the hospital but she hung up on me so.."

The screams came back to full sound when Entrapta and her wings brought him on the rooftop again. She plopped him down before settling herself, her wings retracting into a backpack with her sunglasses perched on her face. 

When the three of them surrounded Kyle, he lifted his hands in defense. "Hordak's algorithm is a program! It's the one that chooses the targets for Project Insight!"

"What targets?" Adora demanded. 

"You!" Kyle pointed at her. His attention moved to Bow. "Him too. Glimmer, Netossa, Lonnie's father! Anyone who could be a threat to Hydra, which includes all of the Princesses!"

They don't know anyone named  _ Lonnie,  _ but out of the names they did know, they figured this could be an issue. But Kyle brought himself to his knees, saying, "It doesn't matter if it's now or in the future."

"The future?" Adora asked, confused. "What do you mean? How would it know?"

Whatever fear Kyle had must have disintegrated because he started laughing, standing up. "How would it not!? We're in the twenty-first century right now. It's all about technology. Hordak taught Hydra everything we know. That algorithm tells us about people and their past. With that, we can predict their threat level."

"What happens then?" 

Kyle ran his hands through his hair. "Oh god… Mara is going to kill me."

Adora stood closer to him, getting in his personal space but frankly not caring. "What happens then!?"

His breathing got heavy, and he flinched when Entrapta gripped his shoulder. He was scared of Mara finding out, but  _ why?  _ "Did Angella show you the helicarriers? Yeah, those start eliminating people."

He continued staring at them, though Entrapta let go of his shoulder. She must've had a death grip, because he rolled it out. "They don't do anything soft. You'll go a few million at a time."

"Okay, c'mon," Adora grabbed onto his collar again, making her way down the stairs. "We gotta stop this before anyone gets killed."

Kyle's eyes widened. "Where are we going!?"

"Where the hell do you think we're going?"

"No, no you can't," Kyle made a grab for her wrist, but Entrapta nearly tossed him away from her. "If Mara finds out I said anything, she'll kill me."

"Who's to say she won't kill you anyway?" Bow pointed out. "How do you know you won't be seen as a potential threat to Hydra? She'll have all of us killed in a second if she could."

Entrapta whistled. "Damn, that's tough, Adora. You pretty much died for no reason then."

She wanted to glare, but the realization dawned on her all too sudden. She tripped over her own feet, though she was standing still. Not for long. She raced down the steps with Kyle in a grip far too hard for the kind of information he had given them. But it's true what Entrapta said. 

Adora never had to die. She never had to go on the pointless missions for the greater good of the world when the world was already being corrupted since the get go. Not all of S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, but she really feels like she wasted a good seventy years of her life. 

Yes, sacrifices had to be made the first time around with Hordak. That she couldn't go against. Even if she would've loved certain people to still be here, she knew they had to die in order to save, you know, the world. 

But as she threw him in the backseat of the car, Bow and Entrapta piling in while she got in shotgun (probably because they didn't trust her to drive), she had a pit of fury in her chest so abnormally huge she didn't see the gunshot. 

She didn't notice it until Bow jumped from the back seat into her lap, pulling her head into his chest and kicking Entrapta just as another bullet went through the headrest, hitting Kyle in the head. A metal arm threw Kyle into oncoming traffic, but she couldn't see because of Bow's chest. 

Entrapta stepped on the brakes, sending someone flying off the roof on their car, her grip on the steering wheel tightening. The person did a roll and dragged their metal fingers on the ground, and her eyes widened when she realized this is the same person who killed Angella. 

"Oh, shit…" Adora mumbled under her breath. Bow must've recognized them too, because he lifted his gun and aimed for the killer, except a car came crashing in from behind them. 

Entrapta had fast reflexes, as she was able to determine the situation quickly. She slammed her foot on the gas, going as fast as she can into the killer. But they jumped onto the roof of the car, smashing the car window with their metal arm and ripping the steering wheel.

"Crap!" Entrapta yelled. 

Bow wasted no time, setting the cool metal of the gun against the roof and shooting. They could hear the footsteps jump off, and they knew the target wasn't hit. The car continued forward with zero sense of direction, which only became more and more dangerous as a different car kept pounding them from behind. 

When the car started tipping on its side, toward the edge of the freeway bridge, Adora went through her mind to come up with some quick thinking. She gripped her sword with one hand, the handle of the car door in the other. "Guys, hold on to me!"

She felt Entrapta settle herself in her lap alongside Bow. With the two of them secure, she hit her shoulder against the car door until it broke off its hinges. The door flew off the car, Adora taking the bottom of the pile of humans so she could take most of the impact. 

They didn't have time to watch the car rolling around in a spiral. Entrapta got lost pretty quickly, but ducked behind the wrecked car as she skidded across the freeway with Bow. The duo hid for cover when the masked person got handed a  _ huge  _ gun. 

She pushed Bow out of the way when they fired. She lifted her sword so it could take most of the impact, but she still found herself hurtling through the air and off the freeway completely. She crashed through a bus window, hardly registering the screams and only processed the other bus crashing into them. 

Her head collided with one of the seats, and she almost laid there for a while and fell asleep. But she could hear gunshots coming from the freeway. She had to get back to the action eventually. 

The constant firing of a gun made her grit her teeth. She peeked through the window and saw Bow standing with his gun pointed at the other shooter, their metal arm having almost perfect aim as their long, brown hair fanned around their shoulders, never once getting in their face. 

Oh, well. Time to suck up the pain. She stood unsteadily, and maybe she took too long necade the next thing out the window was Bow getting shot in the shoulder, ducking behind a car as the gun got pointed at him again.

Adora launched herself out the broken window, sprinting as fast as she could with her sword into the battle once again. She approached the shooter atop of a car, slamming the hilt of her sword into their side. But they caught the hilt, both struggling to assert their dominance. 

The shooter lifted their hand, catching Adora off balance. They kicked her in the chest, flying off the broken car. They started shooting at her again, but she was able to line everything up perfectly to deflect all of the bullets. 

They rolled off the car with grace which  _ seriously  _ isn't fair. She got to her feet again, protecting Bow as he ran to probably go help Entrapta. Bringing a sword to a gun fight wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. 

The killer made many attempts to shoot her, but her flawless angling allowed her to deflect everything. If she had her suit she could use her cuffs, but she's pretty sure returning to her house would get her killed on sight. And right now, she had to worry about how easy it was for the metal arm to catch her sword and dodge her attacks. 

It took one good grab at her arm to almost send her flying backwards, but instead she jumped off of her toes, flipping backwards so she's not thrown off. But the attacker was quicker, stepping on her foot when she landed and taking away her sword. 

The mask and sword at the ready made them seem eerie, lifeless eyes boring straight into her soul. She ran for it, and they threw the sword at her, securing itself into a crashed van behind her. She continued running forward and they brought a knife out of their belt. 

Now, she doesn't know if this is the Horde Soldier that Bow described to her. They shouldn't be this agile and quick if they're really as old as they say. Because the way they're jabbing at her with a pocket knife and searching for her vulnerabilities had her doubting the age a little bit. 

She stopped every punch thrown at her, but they were quick. Maybe not quicker than her, but definitely enough to make her evaluate this more. They smoothly flipped the knife from one hand to the other, non dominance in the arm not being a problem. They jabbed at her shoulder, forcing her to her knees before she pounced off her toes to stand back up. 

All it took was a well timed kick to throw them off balance. She punched them in the chest, sending them into the next car over. She began relentless attacks, driving her fist into them over and over again. They snapped out of their surprise, wrapping their arms around her middle and walking her backwards. 

She made a grab for their normal shoulder, flipping them over her. She straddles them, but that turned out to be a mistake. They reached forward and fastened their metal arm around her neck, standing up with her in a compromised position. She desperately slapped at the arm, trying to loosen the grip, and they threw her easily as throwing a baseball. 

When they brought their fist down to meet her face, she wiggled herself to a different position. She hopped onto her feet, not given any time to recover when they pinned her against a car. They stabbed a knife near her head, and every step Adora took, they followed, the knife dragging against the car. 

She ran by the other car with her sword embedded in it, digging it out and swinging at them. She drove the blade into the metal arm, hoping to cut it off. But she barely made a dent. She reached up with her other hand and grabbed the bottom of the mask, ripping it off their face as she flipped them over. 

"I have the high ground…" She joked to herself, waiting in a fighting stance for when they decided to turn around and face her. 

But Adora wasn't ready for what she saw when they turned around, her eyes widening in surprise. 

_ "Catra!?" _

But Catra stared at her with dead, lifeless eyes. "Who the hell is Catra?"

Adora brought her hand up to her mouth, tears welling up behind her open eyelids. Her panting cut off and she could only take in slow, painful breaths because  _ this isn't real and there's no way this is real.  _

All the memories flooded back in an instant. She felt everything and nothing at the same time, but it stopped mattering because the overall confusion and surprise overtook her body, not allowing her to do anything but stare at the other girl. 

Catra lifted her gun to shoot at Adora again, and she didn't even respond. She was going to let it happen because her body tensed up and numbed out of shock, out of sadness, despair and misery and all the other emotions Adora has. 

But something slammed into her back from behind to push her out of the way of the bullet. Entrapta flew in front of her, wings sprawled out in the afternoon sun. Catra raised the gun again the second Adora made eye contact again. A bullet from behind went out, a fury of smoke engulfing Catra. 

Momentarily distracted, Adora turned around to face Bow, now stumbling and grasping at his side. She whipped her head around just as quickly to face Catra again, but where the girl once stood, nothing was there anymore. 

Sirens sounded through her ears, but she didn't hear it. Just the muffled noise everything made. When the officers ordered her to drop her sword and get on her knees, she obliged. She saw no point in struggling. There's too much going through her head for her to process the current situation. 

Adora continued staring at the spot where Catra stood, closing her mouth into a thin line as she let her tears pool in her eyes, refusing to let them drop as she was forced into a S.H.I.E.L.D. truck as prisoner. 

*

"We looked for you after. My parents. We wanted to give you a ride from the cemetery."

"I know," Adora grumbled, going up the stairs. "Its just… I want to be alone right now."

"How was it?" Catra asked, following close behind her. 

"It's… okay," she shrugged, careful not to trip on the last step. "She's next to dad, now. So I guess that's good. At least that's what Adam said."

"I wanted to ask-"

"I know what you're going to ask, Catra." Adora started to slip her key from her pocket, but she stumbled around, fingers shaking. 

"Hey, Adora?" Catra grabbed her elbow, turning her around so they were face to face. "C'mon… We can put the couch cushions on the floor and the blankets everywhere like we used to. It'll be fun! No rent, no nothing. All I ask is you."

When Adora still couldn't find her key, Catra kicked the welcome mat, revealing the spare. She ducked down, holding the metal in between two fingers before leaning against the doorframe, slipping the key into the lock. 

"Thank you, Catra," Adora smiled, walking into her now empty house. Has been ever since Adam moved out. "But I can't bother you and your folks. I can't ask that of you."

He wouldn't abandon her. But hey, he has to go to war. War is war and as much as she would love to go and defend her country, they keep refusing her. It's like life is giving her table scraps to work with. 

"That's the thing." Catra strolled in at her heels, pressing Adora against the door, effectively shutting it. "You don't have to."

For the first time since her mom died, Adora found herself smiling as Catra placed a slow, intimate kiss against her lips. "Because I'm with you till' the end of the line, Adora."

_____

Adora woke up screaming, "It was her!"

She hardly registered the unfamiliar sofa she was sleeping on. She hadn't even realized she'd knocked out. No, only the memory and shock of seeing Catra again. 

Entrapta sat at her side, clearly alarmed by the screaming girl. "What? Who? What happened? Bow!"

"No, no, I'm fine. I just…" She curled her head into her lap when she finally registered the unforgiving truth of earlier. "It was her. She looked at me and had no idea who I was."

"Who?"

_ "Catra." _

Everyone knows She-Ra's long lost best friend from the war. The one who fell off a train and died. No one knows the other truth besides Adam. Entrapta nodded in understanding. "How is that possible? Wasn't that seventy years ago?"

"...Hordak." She sighed, struggling to find the strength to make it through this conversation. "Catra's unit got captured during the war. Hordak did experiments on her. Whatever he did helped Catra survived the fall. They must've found her…"

She shrunk into herself even further. She felt a hand clasp on her shoulder. "None of that's your fault, Adora." She lifted her head to smile gratefully at Bow, who'd entered the conversation with a bandage around his shoulder. 

Where Catra shot him. 

"Even I had nothing…" She faltered. "I had Catra." She cleared her throat, anxious to change the subject before she started crying because her eyes were definitely watery. "Where the hell are we?"

"Glad you asked."

Adora whipped her head around at the familiar voice. The too familiar voice. She saw Angella standing in the doorway, almost completely intact. She smiled, a warm smile that Adora appreciated in a time like this. "I was in a little crash, don't worry. One hell of a hit, though."

"But…" Adora stared at the others in confusion. "Your heart stopped. How…? I was in a truck as a prisoner. What the fuck is going on?"

"Huntara, bless her. She called Glimmer to tell her about my injury and my daughter had the fantastic idea for me to fake my own death," Angella explained. "We discovered something fishy. Huntara saved you lot on the highway."

"Why with the secrets?" Adora asked, slightly appalled at being in the dark for so long. "Why not tell us as soon as you 'died'."

"I didn't know who I could trust."

"So what now?" Adora stood up, legs shaking. "We stay down here for all of eternity? Because S.H.I.E.L.D. is about to launch Project Insight and Catra is still out there."

"We've got to stop it," Bow said, stating the obvious. 

"No shit we gotta stop it," Angella rolled her eyes. "But I don't think S.H.I.E.L.D. is acting on my orders. Or Mara." She opened a briefcase, revealing three chips. 

"Oo!" Entrapta clapped her hands in excitement and fascination. "What's that?"

"The helicarriers have a chip with the algorithm on it. We replace those targeting chips with our own. But we can't do only one or two. We need all three to be hijacked in order for this to work because-"

"Even if one stays online, millions of people are gonna die," Adora summarized. 

Angella nodded grimly. "Now, we're assuming all in favor of Insight is Hydra. If we can salvage-"

"We're not salvaging anything," Adora sat up, suddenly angry. "If we take down these helicarriers, we take down S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this-"

"Listen to me!" Adora ordered, standing up and pointing a finger at Angella's chest. "This is my mission now. You told me to do this. S.H.I.E.L.D. got compromised by Hydra, which happened without you noticing."

"I don't know if you've noticed where we're at, but we're in a goddamn  _ cave  _ right now. I know exactly what happened to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Yeah, and how many people had to pay the price before you did?"

Okay, maybe that was taking it too far. But Adora's emotions are too out of line right now. Look at what happened to Catra because no one was powerful enough to stop Hydra. If she could, she would kill them one by one. 

Angella avoided eye contact. "I didn't know about Catra."

Adora scoffed. "Yeah, well, even if you did you wouldn't have told me."

"Look, she's going to be there when we go in the fight. If you can't handle seeing your friend-"

"She wasn't just my friend!" Adora snapped, frantically blinking to avoid crying. "I know, every book a- and newspaper and even the stupid museum referenced Catra as my best friend, bur that wasn't it! The forties were a different time so we couldn't come right out and say it! First she supposedly dies then I get frozen and now she's back and trying to kill us! Not to mention I thought I'd already lost her when Hordak took over her unit! Call us star crossed or something but fucking obviously I'm a little fucked up at seeing her again!"

Lovers till the end. Catra had somehow gotten all the boys swooning for her but in the end, she picked Adora. She picked the scrawny girl who thought she could single handedly save the world. But that Catra fell off a train, and that Adora died seventy years ago. Who were they now? Best friends in everyone else's eyes. Lovers to the two of them. How many more times is one of them going to die? 

A beat of silence before Bow mumbled, "Well, you don't read that in the museum."

Adora inhaled, preparing her next words carefully as she stood face to face with Angella. "I'm saying this once. This plan goes into motion ASAP. I'm fighting, and I'll take down the helicarriers myself if I have to. Don't doubt my ability to fight. You're going to doubt me, say something about inability to keep my emotions in check."

Entrapta patted her shoulder. "I'm with you, buddy." 

Bow nodded in agreement, forcing Angella to  agree. "Looks like you're giving the orders now, Princess."

"We go in as soon as possible," Adora said, turning around as she finally allowed the tears to fall down without anyone noticing. Hopefully she'd be able to find her way out of this place. 

"Where are you gonna get a suit from?" Angella yelled after her. 

"Don't worry," Adora responded, a plan in motion that's not only benefitting her, but hopefully liberate Catra of whatever's happening to her. "I have something in mind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday america
> 
> Idk how else to describe this besides I hope this makes sense or the chapter where I reference Glimmer way too much for not being in this and I just wanna watch stranger things


	4. Let's Disappoint Each Other

"So, the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now is a dumbass bitch."

Adora practiced her speech as they made their way to the S.H.I.E.L.D. building. She forgot how itchy her old suit is. Thank the heavens she figured out how to do some old fashioned breaking and entering into her own museum.

Stealing her own suit… As they went over the plan over and over again, it all seemed simple enough. She wears her old, strapless suit without the halter top. Hey, women back then had to have a totally different appeal, and she needed the respect. Especially from being in a military role. 

The old suit would totally mess with Catra, if she  happened to run into her. And Adora hoped not. Entrapta kept glancing back at her in concern, and she's glad to have her support. She really is. Huntara made everything easier, too. But everyone here is worried that Catra is distracting her. 

She doesn't need that right now. She's  _ fine,  _ and if anything, she has the most leverage with the suit. No matter what happened to Catra to make her the way she is, to forget everything… No, they'd be  _ fine.  _

The chances of running into Catra are slim anyways. Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. or Mara risk someone seeing her? No, she's fine. And she proved it by kicking down the door to the communications room, smiling at the person who opened the door. 

Entrapta and Huntara aimed guns at the people inside. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stared at them with wide eyes, surprised to see the three most wanted at their door. "Excuse us," Adora said, the agents raising their hands in defense. 

A pause as she heard Bow talking over the coms. So the plan is in motion. She walked over to a PA system microphone, where she pushed a button and got feedback. She cringed at the loud sound, then leaned forward and started talking. 

"Hey, everyone," she cleared her throat when she talked an octave higher. "Hi, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. This is Adora Carrero here. There's been a lot of talk about me these past few days. I know you were ordered to hunt me down. I think you should know the truth."

Mara's bullshit about how grateful the world should be came from Bow's com momentarily distracted her. She looked to Entrapta for encouragement. They could hear what's happening. The girl gave her a thumbs up, and smiled. 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was," Adora continued. "Hydra has come back, and taken over this organization. Mara has become its leader after murdering Angella. They've become a dictatorship, and almost have complete control. They're in this building. May be right next to you. It won't end at Angella. Hydra will kill anyone who's a threat if you launch those helicarriers. But we can stop them. This is asking a lot, I know. Freedom has always been expensive. It cost me my best friend's life. But I'm very willing to pay it. If I'm the only one, then oh well. I'll stand against an army if I have to alone. But I can bet that I'm not charging into this battle by myself."

Her finger lifted off the button, leaving her speech satisfied. She always had the best speeches back in the forties. The reference to her 'best friend' probably gave her empathy points, too. Nothing ever compared to Catra's 'Give It Up For She-Ra', though. 

"Damn," Entrapta awed at her. "Do you write these down first or something?"

"Or something," Adora shrugged. Her heart dropped as she heard an alarm go off. She didn't know what it was for, but she had an idea of what it could be. 

Huntara sat down at one of the open computers motioning for her and Entrapta to get the hell out. They scurried to the window, only to see the helicarriers now out of the water, ready to launch at any given time. 

"Shit," Adora cursed, grabbing Entrapta by the strap of her backpack (wingpack?) and dragging her outside. She brandished her sword, holding it heavy in her left hand as they sprinted towards the very dangerous weapons that could and probably would take them out the second they approached. 

"Uh, Adora?" Entrapta asked over the roaring noise. "Who's trying to kill us and who's trying to help?"

"If they shoot us, that's Hydra. If they don't, they're the good guys."

Entrapta pressed a button of her pack, and the wings sprouted out as they approached a ledge Both jumped off, though only one was guaranteed not to have shattered ankles. 

It was Adora. But nothing broke. 

She landed on the ground with a graceful roll, springing back up to a standing position. She continued running at full speed as Hydra agents tried to shoot her relentlessly. Amatuers. She blocked the bullets with the blade part of her sword, protecting her body since her old suit wasn't exactly bulletproof. 

Two men came to gang up on her, but one well timed punch to one head knocked him into the other, both collapsing in an unconscious heap. She grasped at a non lethal grenade on her belt and bit the pin off, throwing it into the army of Hydra soldiers. It would do damage, yes. But nothing more than maming. 

She took the opportunity of the distraction to search for Entrapta flying in the air. Through the coms, she heard the various grunts and moans on Bow's end. She laughed, pumping a fist in the air as the plan went according to plan for once. 

Right now, he should currently be taking off the fake face of a world security council member and kicking some ass. As he usually does, yes, but hearing one of her friends completely obliterate sounded cool over just freaking ear pieces. 

"Entrapta, what's your status?" Huntara said over the coms. 

"I'm engaged!" She shouted back when Hydra began firing shots at her. Adora almost stepped in, but she knew it would probably be best to start heading towards the helicarriers. When Entrapta landed in one, she said, "Adora, I'm in."

A loud curse came from the girl. Adora ran as fast as she could to the occupied helicarrier, showing no curiosity to anybody who tried to stop her. A little punch here, simple kick there, and she was able to knock a lot of them out. 

"Eight minutes, She-Ra," Huntara informed. 

"On it," Adora grunted, ripping open the door to one of the helicarriers. She should be getting the third any minute now, and Entrapta said she was in already. She pressed a button where the chips full of killing data was stored, inserting the chip Angella had given them. 

She sent the controls back into its place, waiting for further commands. 

"Guys, I had a little detour!" Entrapta shouted, the sound of guns firing audible. At the same time, Bow was working on his part of the plan to expose Mara and everything she did. But Mara told him that his past would be revealed. Nothing would be hidden. 

But she knows Bow. She knows he'll go through with it. He would do whatever it takes to save the world, even if the world hadn't always been the nicest to him. 

Entrapta whooped once the loud gunshots ceased. "Okay, guys. I'm in for real this time." She hummed to herself as she inserted the chip into the controls, acting as if she wasn't destroying a deadly weapon. "Alright, I'm done here."

Angella returned the enthusiasm. "Hell yeah! I'm going in now. Disabling the safeguards requires two alpha level members. Bow, get Mara to cooperate. I'll enter when she's ready."

"That won't be hard," Bow said, and she could hear his smirk over the coms. He was probably holding a gun to the woman's head right now as Angella strolled in like she owned the place. If everything is going according to plan, then Angella could lift her eye patch and use her retinal scan to do whatever she needs to. 

"Adora, meet Entrapta somewhere and hitch a ride," Huntara ordered. "You've got six minutes left."

Adora sprinted into the open space, waiting for Entrapta to see her. She leaped off the helicarrier, hoping that she didn't make the biggest mistake of her life. "Ready!"

Luckily, the girl flew over to her in record time, catching Adora mid fall. The adrenaline rush got to the both of them, laughing wildly when Entrapta landed on the third helicarrier. 

“Girl, all that muscle makes you really heavy,” Entrapta joked.

“What can I say?” Adora replied, eyes peeled open. “I did a couple extra sit ups this morning.”

She stumbled a bit when Catra jumped in front of her, no mask. Seeing her with the new uniform and no mask just… kind of fucked her off. So much that she didn’t see the warning signs when Catra kicked her square in the chest and knocked her off the flying helicarrier.

“Adora!” Entrapta yelled, reaching her hand out. She grasped onto the ledge, using her strength to make sure she didn’t plummet to her death. Entrapta set out to fly after her, but she saw Catra latch onto her wings with a wire, flinging the girl to the ground and ripping off one of the wings.

She watched helplessly as Entrapta got pushed off the carrier and fell to the ground, frantically pushing buttons on her pack to release a parachute. She landed on one of the landings with a thud, ankles only sprained at best.

“Adora? Adora, come in. Are you okay? What’s your status?”

“I’m… I’m fine,” she insured, fingertips being the only thing keeping her from falling. “Just hanging out, you know?” She used every bit of strength to pull herself up, rolling onto the surface while on the defense, searching for Catra. “What about you? How are you doing?”

“I’m grounded, the wings broke, and I probably fractured something. Sorry, Adora.”

“No, no, you're fine. Don’t worry, I got it.”

She found her footing and ran into the third helicarrier, prepared to put the chip in. She got to the bridge that would lead her to the controls, but standing in all her glory at the end of the platform was, of course,  _ Catra. _

Not even a mask… Hydra must’ve known how much this would mess up Adora. They planned this carefully. The metal arm glittered in the sun coming through, a vacant look in her eyes shattering Adora’s heart.  _ Never  _ has she seen Catra with the pure life sucked out of her. Never had Catra’s hair been this untamed compared to the styled locks way back when.

Never had she seen Catra on the opposite side of the battlefield.

She didn’t want to fight Catra.  _ God,  _ no she didn’t. “People are going to die,” Adora said through gritted teeth, noticing the way Catra’s hand curled around a gun. “I can’t let that happen.”

Catra didn’t respond. Adora didn’t know if she could even hear her. Emotionless and stone cold, they stared at each other. She can’t fight her. Her oldest friend, her past lover. When she had nothing left, she always had Catra. Always,  _ always  _ Catra. It didn’t matter if she broke the law or could’ve been killed because of her preference. If it ever came down to it, she would always choose Catra and nothing else.

_ “Please don’t make me do this.” _

Her voice cracked and she could hear how strained it sounded. She could care less that the coms were on and everyone could hear her emotional outbreak. She has to get to Catra. Somehow,  _ somehow.  _ She didn’t know how, but she has to be there now. How many times had Catra been there for her? She has to do this, consequences be damned.

Catra lifted her gun and shot. Adora blocked it with the blade of her sword and charged forward. She could at least use this to her advantage and get closer to the controls, but she hated having the dodge all of the bullets coming her way. Micah could really make an unbreakable sword but not a bulletproof suit?

She twisted her sword so she held the pointy end, ramming the hilt into Catra’s chest and sending her flying backwards. The ground swayed under her feet, disgusted with herself for laying a harmful finger on Catra.

But this was obviously not Catra’s first rodeo. She pulled a knife out of a holster (didn’t Glimmer say she’d never be attacked with a knife?) and swung, rivarling Adora and her sword skills.

Another hard shove with the hilt of her sword to the head sent Catra into a daze, not having made talked or made a noise. She took the sliver of peace to punch the buttons, bringing the controls down so she could insert the chip.

Catra regained her senses more than quickly. She raged forward, grabbing Adora’s shoulder, getting her away from the controls without the chip. She made a wild kick at Catra’s knife, but she easily grasped it, knocking Adora down onto her knees.

She brought her knife down in line with Adora’s head. She grabbed the hilt with one hand, the blade in her other. She ignored the stinging pain of the sword cutting into her skin and raised the sword, Catra’s knife hitting the middle of the sword. Both of their arms shook as they attempted to keep the other from reaching their goal.

A loose cry of pain escaped Adora’s mouth, blood dripping down her arm as her hand was almost deep enough to cause permanent damage. She could sense the pressure of Catra’s knife weaken, if only for a moment, and used all the strength in her legs to prop herself up and send Catra flying who knows where.

She made an attempt to put the chip in, but Catra the Freaking Cockroach who keeps coming back made a grab for her legs. She’ll admit, the leg contact startled her since  _ no one  _ ever went for her legs and always for the sword. But Catra used enough force to send them tumbling off the bridge and onto a clear platform, her sword skidding out of her hands.

The chip landed a ways away from her. She made a run for it, but Catra threw her own sword at her, slamming into the back of her head. The human part of her wanted to collapse from exhaustion (both physical and emotional), but the super princess part of her brought her back to her feet, shielding herself with the sword as Catra shot her relentlessly.

There was once a time where they stood side by side, shooting the enemies. That all went crashing down when Catra fell off the train.

_ Fuck  _ trains.

Catra flicked her wrist in her crouched position, long black nails springing out as she sprinted towards Adora. She threw the sword in a last effort to slow her down, but Catra must’ve learned the laws of physics wherever she was during the seventy years. She bounced the blade off her metal arm, probably sending it into the next dimension. 

She grabbed the knife again, driving it through Adora’s shoulder. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cried out in pain, but that’s not even what hurt the most. She prepared herself, slamming her head into Catra’s over and over again. She pulled the knife out, using the momentum to throw Adora into a wall. 

The chip.

Adora made a run for it, but Catra’s hand wrapped around her neck, lifting her into the air and slamming her into the ground. She got to the chip first. That would probably cause a killer bruise later, but right now, she has got to figure out how to breathe properly.

She grabbed Catra’s normal arm, catching her off guard and twisting it, the arm bent at a weird angle behind her back. Knife in the other hand, she still tried to stab her a second time.

“Drop it!” Adora shouted, almost as if she were ordering around a dog. Catra made another attempt to stab, so she closed her eyes and popped Catra’s shoulder out of place. She hated it with every being, but she couldn’t let herself die either.

For the first time, Catra grunted. The first noise she’s made this whole time. With her freezing up in pain, Adora wrapped her arms around the girl’s neck and tugging her down onto the floor next to her. 

She didn’t want to do this, but Catra gave her no choice. Her eyes watered as she choked her out. Catra tried to use her metal arm, but Adora wrapped her legs around it. Catra’s struggling made it all the more harder for her to actually go through with this. She didn’t want to do this, she didn’t want to,  _ she didn’t want to- _

Catra’s hand went limp, dropping the knife and chip.

As soon as she fell asleep, Adora let her go. When she said she wanted Catra back in her arms,  _ this isn’t what she meant.  _ She grasped the chip tightly in her hand, running as fast as she could to the control room. She had to get away from Catra before she did something stupid.

Her plan hadn’t worked. She thought wearing the old suit would somehow jog Catra’s memory and the soldier wouldn’t hurt anyone, and they’d be okay again. But when was it ever that easy? She shouldn’t have done this. She should’ve called Glimmer and made her do this confrontation. Now that’s someone who wouldn’t hesitate.

But the memory of Catra’s smile and laugh didn’t let her move forward.

Some people move on, but not her.

“Adora, one minute!” Huntara yelled.

Oh, yeah. There are other things besides Catra. She hasn’t even been keeping up with her friends through the coms. She got trapped in her own little world where the only people that mattered were Catra and Adora. Not She-Ra, not some super violent and brainwashed soldier. Not even Catrina. Just  _ them.  _

She jumped and grabbed onto the bridge’s railing, pulling herself up onto the platform. She ran to the controls, but she didn’t get the chance to even insert the chip. A sharp, stinging pain erupted in her calf, and she didn’t have to look down to know it was a bullet. She glanced to the ground, Catra in all her glory holding a gun.

Staggering to the controls again, Adora prayed that Catra wouldn’t have a way to get up. “Thirty seconds, Adora. Hurry!” 

“I’m going, I’m going…” She positioned the chip to insert it. “Stand by.”   


But everything went to shit when Catra shot Adora in the stomach. Her breathing sped up and she could only focus on the pain. Catra had shot her.  _ Catra had shot her.  _ She didn’t even feel remorse, only listening to some orders. Hydra took everything from her, and Catra doesn’t even know who she is.

Hardly breathing and clinging onto what little life she had left, she jammed the chip into position. “Hydra, you’re dumb,” she quipped. Leave it up to her to make jokes when she’s on the verge of dying because her ex girlfriend shot her with zero hesitation. 

“Alright, you did it. Good job, princess,” Huntara praised. “Okay, get out of there.”

She couldn’t even breathe right. There’s no way she’d be able to waltz out of here. She sat down with her back against the controls. “Fire now.” She wouldn’t hold up the mission. 

“Adora-"

“Do it! Do it now!”

The helicarriers started firing at each other. Besides the ringing in her ears, the next loudest sound were the explosions. She stood up and leaned against the railing, but she instantly wished she hadn’t. Down below, Catra was trapped underneath some sort of metal foundation or something. 

She couldn’t stand to see Catra hurt.

Before she could make her decision, the bridge came tumbling down, landing next to her sword. She brandished her weapon, making her way towards Catra who watched her with a glassy stare.

A particularly hard shot at the helicarrier made her stumble over her feet, catching the way Catra stared at her in desperation. They both know if Catra wanted to get out, Adora was the only one who could lift the metal. She tried and clawed, doing no further damage than scratching it like a cat post.

If she’s depending on her, that’s gotta mean something. Right?

Adora wrapped her arms around the metal, struggling to lift as her injuries contradicted everything she did. Barley three inches off the floor, she allowed just enough time for Catra to get out from under before letting it slip from her hands.

They stared at each other before Catra averted her eyes. Almost as if she didn’t want to look at her.

“You know me,” Adora told her.

They both found their footing, shaking from their injuries. The blood loss is making her dizzy. If she didn’t get out now, she wouldn’t at all.

“No I don’t!” Catra screeched, surprising her as she slammed her shoulder into Adora’s, sending her tumbling over.

She knows all attempts at reaching out are futile, but she owed it to Catra to at least try. She coughed red, a metallic taste in her mouth as she stood. She swayed on her bad leg, keeping all the weight off of it.

Eye contact. “Catra…” This time, Adora held it. Catra didn’t turn away. “We’ve known each other our whole lives. You  _ know  _ me.”

Catra swung sloppily at her head, knocking her on the ground. She stood, not backing down. “Your name is Catrina Michalka-”

“Shut up!”

Another almost lazy hit to force her down. The punches weren’t knocking her down, but rather the pain from everything earlier. 

She wouldn’t give up, rising. She took her crown off, throwing it somewhere. Maybe that’ll jog something. But then she realized why Catra’s reacting the way she is. The violence and punches are fueling her, and giving into it is making it worse. SHe didn’t want to do this in the first place, and now she knows she doesn’t have to.

“I’m not going to fight you.” She didn’t look at her sword as she chucked it off the helicarrier. It wasn’t as important to her as Catra was. It’s not like she’ll need it. She’s going to die anyways. “You’re my…” She didn’t know if Catra understood the concept of relationships and exes, so she chose better wording. “...friend.”

Catra stared at her for a moment before yelling, wrapping her arms around Adora’s legs to throw her onto the ground, for real this time.

“You’re my mission.”

Catra straddled her lap, brutally delivering punch after punch to her face. Adora could feel her face splitting and nose breaking. Catra groaned and yelled miserably as if this was taking as much of a toll on her.

But Adora let her. This is the girl who somehow got accepted into the army before she did, but never once abandoned her friend. The one who beat up thugs for her in alleyways when she was too small and weak to do it herself. The one who used to sneak into her compartment back then, sleeping beside her until morning broke and she had to go back or else they’d question things. The one who risked everything for her.

Adora’s returning the favor.

Catra bunched up Adora’s suit in her hand, raising it over her face. She looked ready to bring it down and strike her again for the kill. But she didn’t, and that  _ had  _ to mean something. Right?

“Then finish it…” Adora said through her busted lip.

Catra stared at her with wild eyes. She could distinctly hear Angella finally killing Mara amd Entrapta scolding a Hydra agent for monologuing, but they weren’t important right now. Not when she has a brainwashed soldier on her lap, ready to go for the kill but hesitating for some reason. But it gave Adora the chance to break through. 

“Because I’m with you till’ the end of the line.”

Catra’s breathing got heavier. Adora struggled to keep her eyes open. Catra lowered her fist, eyes wide and unsure. Adora didn’t think anything of it when something crashed into the floor, breaking the helicarrier and cracking the ground underneath them.

She could barely register the fall, but she could see Catra hanging onto the helicarrier with the same haunted look in her eyes. Adora’s the one falling this time, Catra the one surviving. Good. That’s how it should’ve been the first time around.

Adora saw black before she hit the water, but she swears she saw Catra let go of the little ledge when she slipped into unconsciousness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I JUST FINISHED SEASON 3 AND ALL I CAN SAY IS
> 
> FUCK
> 
> IT'S 4 AM AND I'M SCREAMING BUT I HAD TO UPDATE BUT I'M STILL SCREAMING FUCK CATRADORA HAVE A BIG STORM COMING


	5. Your Mess Is Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you watch the season 3 references you get a pat on the back

“Remember when I made you ride The Zipper at that one fair we went to?”

Adora deadpanned at the memory. “Yeah, and I remember throwing up everywhere.”

Catra sighed, staring at the train tracks. “I really hope this isn’t payback.”

“And why would I do that?” She pretended to be offended, but there’s no actual bite in her words.

“Hey, girls,” Adam called out to them. “We were right. Hordak is on the train. Hydra’s transporting him as fast as they can. Wherever they need him, they need him quick.”

Adora put her crown on, adjusting her strapless suit before it slipped off her body. She’s gotta get Micah to fix it because so far, this isn’t working. It was fine for the tour, but hopeless in an actual battle. She slinged her arm around Catra’s shoulder, leaving them to the edge of the cliff as the train came into view.

She used her sword as a zipline, which is not only dangerous but  _ stupid.  _ But hey, she’s known for stupid. She traveled down the power line that would land on the train, and she could see Catra behind her with the corner of her eye.

They landed promptly on the moving vehicle, taking a second to adjust their footing. They had Adam in their ears, so they’d be alerted when they’d have trouble. They trekked to the front of the train where they would go through the emergency exit on the roof.

She ripped it clean off. She tossed the door somewhere in the snow, and both girls jumped down side by side.

What worried her was how empty this place was. Not a single guard in sight. She gripped her sword a little more tightly, moving non-suspiciously in front of Catra to protect the girl from any incoming danger.

It was suspicious. Catra stifled a laugh when she noticed.

Catra held her gun close to her body as they walked down the train cars. Gone was the small moment of laughter. Danger and anxiety has arrived! Not a single guard as Hydra relocates their most important person? It doesn’t make sense.

Adora stepped into the next car, but jumped when she heard a door close behind her. She whirled around with wide eyes as Catra got stuck on the other side, a small glass window and a large metal door between them.

“Catra!” She yelled, panicking when Catra began getting shot at. She heard something powering up behind her, and promptly turned around to face a weapon. 

The moonstone.

Big blue cube that can fuck up just about anything. She barely had time to duck and cover when the weapon tried firing at her. She jumped behind a couple of boxes. She would have to talk to Micah about some sort of shield. That would’ve come in handy.

She didn’t like that she couldn’t see Catra, or that her brother had gone silent in her ear. She didn’t like not knowing her surroundings. She had to get back to Catra  _ somehow.  _ She has super strength and durability. Catra… does not.

Maybe it was a little stupid to crouch and duck when she had a giant sword. She charged at the person shooting at her, and the sword bounced the power of the moonstone off. It hit the person back square in the chest, and Adora could hardly tell herself to feel bad. Not with Catra in danger in the next room over.

She grabbed the moonstone weapon and fired it at the door, creating a hole she could now go through. But Catra wasn’t in the room. She sprinted to the door across from her, peering through the glass to see Catra hiding behind a stack of boxes.

Adora elbowed the door control panels and opened it, going unnoticed by the shooter. Catra heard the noise and looked up at her, Adora motioning to follow her. But Catra didn’t stand up in time, and the shooter saw the extra visitor.

She groaned as she charged, probably about to literally die. But bless Catra and her superpower worthy accurate shot to the guy’s head.

“I totally had him, by the way,” Catra teased.

Adora examined the open room for any incoming attacks. “Yeah, I know you did.” Except her dumbass didn’t check behind them, and the powering up of a moonstone weapon rang through her ears.

“Get down!” She shouted, grabbing Catra’s arm to pull her next to her and using her slim sword to attempt to cover them both. But the blast, once again, bounced off the sword and into the wall of the train, creating a hole way too big for her liking.

But the power was a bit too much, and the impact had sent them both flying in different directions. She opened her eyes to see Catra holding her sword for defense, gun in the other hand for offense.

But it wasn’t made for non super soldiers.

The shooter fired another shot at Catra, and she used the sword to deflect it. But the blast had been more than she could handle. The sword fell out of her hands as she was sent flying backwards off the train through the hole.

Pure and adulterated fury and rage surged through Adora as she threw her sword in the center of the shooter’s chest.

She didn’t bother checking to see if they were dead. She ran to the hole, trying not to have a panic attack because  _ fuck she can’t afford to panic. _ She ripped off her crown and threw it to the floor for an easier view.

_ “Catra!” _

She could see Catra barely holding onto a rung on one of the ladders on the side of the train. Adora climbed onto a different ladder, choosing careful movement to not send them both toppling over. Catra tried shifting closer as Adora moved towards her.

“Damn it... Damn it! Hang on, Catra.  _ Please!”  _ Adora tried her best to move swiftly. The wind roaring in her ears at how fast they were going only made her eyes water more. This is going to be fine. They’ll be fine. She’ll get Catra out of this. They’ll be okay.

She outstretched her arm. “Grab my hand!” 

When Catra let go with one arm, the rung creaked and one end lifted. She gaped up at Adora with panicked eyes with a hidden message:  _ save me.  _

“No, goddamnit!” Adora swung her hand more wildly as she attempted to get Catra back to safety.

The rung creaked again. “Adora, I love you!” Catra managed to shout before the rung completely broke off, sending Catra toppling off the train with a blood curdling scream as she fell into what seemed like an endless abyss.

And Adora was numb.

But it all hit her at once, starting with a chest pain until the grief spread all over her body. It wasn’t right, it  _ wasn’t.  _ It can’t even be real, right? It can’t… It-

Adora knew it was. She hadn’t been able to save her. She saved everybody but was useless when it came to her girlfriend. She had only been able to watch helplessly as Catra went hurtling off the train.

She’s She-Ra. That’s what she does. She saves everyone and everything turns out okay. But the  _ one  _ person she needed to be okay she had failed. She doesn’t want to be She-Ra right now. She had never been so hopeless.

She dropped her forehead to the cool metal of the train and let our disgruntled sobs. She doesn’t want to be She-Ra. She wants to go back to the times before the serum when Catra was safe and tucked in her arms.

Adora doesn’t want to be She-Ra. She doesn’t want to be She-Ra. She doesn’t-

____

Adora woke up when the rocks started digging into her back.

It wasn’t anything extreme, but she had been stabbed and shot at, plus relived her worst and most painful memory. All three wounds still throbbed, and the sharp rocks didn’t soothe anything. 

She groaned as she was dragged. She opened her eyes completely, trying to figure out what had happened in the past hour or so. Oh, yeah. She had fought Catra and was pretty sure she’d gotten killed. This is the devil taking her to hell, isn’t it?

But she choked on air in surprise when she realized who had such a tight grip on her suit. She saw Catra, hand on one of her straps as they made their way to shore. She hadn’t expected to wake up so early, or to have even woken up at all.

She closed her eyes and pretended to go back to sleep. She doesn’t know what Catra would do when she discovers her awake. The girl is some kind of feared assassin that even made Bow uneasy.

Did Adora reach out to her? Catra had a moment before the helicarrier broke when she could’ve easily killed her. But she didn’t. That had to mean something. It had to. If Catra was able to recognize her after the serum, then why should this be any different?

Last time, Catra hadn’t fallen off a train and instructed to kill. There was much more at stake now, a completely different time. Everyone referred to She-Ra as a woman out of time. No one knew about the other girl who shared the same experience. 

Who would care?

They got to shore, and Catra harshly shoved Adora into the sand. Adora made a big show out of waking up and gasping, but was (not so) pleasantly surprised to find herself coughing out water.

Adora coughed, sitting upright to get everything out. When she glanced up, she was faced with Catra’s glossy stare, expression unreadable. She didn’t understand. She just didn’t know what was going on. 

“Catra…” She breathed. “Don’t leave.” She could still feel the two bullet wounds and the knife shaped hole in her shoulder. Even with her increased healing, nothing seemed to change.

But Catra did nothing except stare off into the sun slowly setting over the horizon. Adora wasn’t upset at her, but she had to direct her anger somewhere. “Don’t make this harder than it already is!”

Catra had the decency to look surprised at Adora’s snap. What really shocked her was when Catra sank steadily to a place next to her on the sand, not sparing a glance at the stunned girl.

_ Huh? _

It’s a pleasant surprise, of course.  _ Any  _ kind of reaction from Catra was something at this point. But Adora wishes it wasn’t all so painful. Her heart clenched and her chest tightened, and her breathing labored a bit. 

“You know who I am..” Adora began. “We’ve been best friends since we were  _ kids.  _ I got into a stupid fight at school and you came to my rescue and said I wasn’t allowed to fight bullies on my own anymore. You just  _ had  _ to steal my thunder, huh?"   


Nothing. Not an ounce of recognition came. Not a side glance, eyes trained on the sunset. Why Catra even bothered staying is a mystery. But if Adora has the opportunity to reach out, she would go to the edge of the world to bring Catra back. There’s no cost that's too big.

“When we were fifteen, you went out with this guy… I can’t even remember his name. Steve maybe? You didn't even do anything. It was a quick date to a coffee shop. But you came to my house afterwards and gushed about the tall guy with pretty blue eyes. That’s the night I realized my feelings. Remember when you caught yours for me?”

Maybe where Catra came from, they didn’t tell her about relationships and everything in between. No, they for sure didn’t, judging by the way Catra didn’t react in any sort of way.

“You said that it was after I went on a date with that red head guy. The one where we back to his place afterwards and he started hitting and beating me up. I came to your place afterwards and you patched me up. You told me that’s the most scared you’ve ever been for me, and you realized that the care you had for me wasn’t just friendship.”

Is it narcissistic to talk about someone’s crush on you? Doesn’t matter, because this time, Catra blinked. Yes, she actually blinked. But that meant some sort of thought is going through her right now. She actually stayed on the beach with a dying Adora. This has to  _ mean  _ something.

“I remember when we told each other how we felt, we were at your house. Your folks went out on a date and you wanted me to come over. I was kinda hoping that you fell in love with me. But we couldn’t sleep and it was two in the morning so we went down to an overnight diner and drank  _ coffee  _ of all things. Remember that?”

Catra clearly didn’t. But she closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, implying thinking. Adora’s eyes began to water again. She is not going to cry right now. She let them pool in her eyes, but never let them fall.

“We came back from the diner, high off of caffeine and went back to your room. You said something about breaking up with Steve, and I mentioned how I wasn’t happy with any date I went on. Something changed in that moment because we kissed and everything was okay.  _ Please  _ tell me you remember that.”

Catra shook her head. So she  _ can  _ hear everything and isn’t absent mindedly listening. But that meant she doesn’t remember one of the most important day of their lives  _ together.  _ Adora needs Catra to remember, please remember,  _ please  _ remember..

Remember…

“I know Hydra made you lose the mask to mess with me. I know they sent you out to finish your mission of killing me. Everyone warned me, too. But want to know what I did?”

Catra glanced with the corner of her eye, and quickly returned her attention to the sky. Adora took that as a yes.

“I’m sure you saw the other suit. But I wore this one for  _ you.  _ I want to help rejog your memory. I know you felt something because you hesitated way too long when you were about to kill me. You had the chance to. But you didn’t.”

This time, no sign of emotion came from the girl. Not a glance, not a sniffle, not even an eye twitch. Adora furiously blinked the tears away. Why isn’t this  _ working?  _ She used to be able to know everything Catra related from her parents to how loud she likes the radio. And now…

Now they’re strangers.

“Losing you was always my worst fear. Adam too, sure, but I knew he could take care of himself if he needed to. But you… I always wanted to protect you. Even when I was some scrawny kid who couldn’t throw a punch without hurting myself.”

That used to be one of their inside jokes. They would joke about how Adora thinks she’s going to pull a muscle with how she punches, but that she can’t pull what she doesn’t have. Usually the joke came with stifled giggles, but eerie silence followed after it this time.

“Fuck, Catra, you’re… You’re way too important to me to lose but… I lost you anyways. I lost you when your unit was supposedly killed, when you fell off that train, and look at us now. We have no idea who the other is anymore.”   


Still nothing. Absolutely  _ nothing.  _ But Adora can’t give up. Not when this is probably the closest thing she’s ever gonna get to talking to Catra alone. This is the closest she’ll ever get to her best friend.

“The morning you were being deployed and sent off, we went to the Fukuhara Expo. I tried enlisting to be with you, and I got rejected again. I was by myself for  _ two months  _ before I visited Adam and got the serum instead. But I went through that once, and then again after the train. I can’t do that again. Not to you, and not to me either.”

Was this a good idea? Who knows. Is Adora probably rambling to herself? Yeah, she is. Because nothing is getting through to Catra right now. Adora’s sitting in a pool of her own tears as she bleeds out to death. Her face was starting to sting and she could only imagine the bruises she’d have.

“I don’t know what this is between us anymore. We were secret girlfriends in a time that hated people like us. People were being killed and tortured for loving who they did, but we risked it for each other. I was the symbol across the nation yet I couldn’t be bothered to find myself a boyfriend. Because I only wanted you.”

Not that Adora has ever really liked boys much. She was never compatible with them and only ever went on dates with them to convince everyone else. She only ever needed Catra, but that doesn’t seem to be an option anymore. 

“You’ve never hurt me. Never. You’ve never laid an unkind hand on me. But just now, you were driving a knife through my shoulder and shooting me in the stomach while rearranging my face, so I think it’s pretty safe to say all that got thrown out the window, huh?”

There’s no more soft smiles and rolling their eyes to a joke the other said. There’s no more Catra saving Adora the self sacrificial idiot from the bullies anymore. There’s no more Adora fussing over Catra when there’s a battle.

They’re at the point of no return.

“I never wanted to say goodbye. Not to you. I wasn’t  _ ready  _ to say goodbye. God, I could hardly handle when you got a freaking paper cut. Now you’re a master assassin, killing people left and right while missing your arm. I let you down, Catra, and I’m so sorry for that. If you  _ remember,  _ if you let me try to make things right, I promise everything will be okay.  _ I promise.” _

Catra suddenly sat on her knees, grabbing Adora by the wrist and pulling her closer. Adora couldn’t help her glance down at Catra’s lips, but was taken aback by how stone cold she’d gone.

“I don’t want your apologies,” Catra growled. “We are not the same, and we never will be. You talk  _ nonsense  _ when I-I’ve never met you before. You got that,  _ princess?  _ I don’t know who you are.”

Catra stuttered. Catra doesn’t stutter. Not even the old Catra could mess up her words or let her confidence waver. This is something new, and it’s gotta mean something when she’s talking about not knowing Adora. 

She lifted Adora in the air for a second before throwing her back onto the ground, already walking away at Adora’s expense of her wounds. Clearly Catra doesn’t know her if she thinks she could get rid of her that easily.

“If you think I’m letting you walk out of here without an explanation, you’re out of your damn mind.”

Catra wasn’t having it. She slammed her fist down on Adora’s face, effectively knocking her out for the second time today.

*

Adora woke up on the same beach, but she could feel bandages wrapped around her abdomen, leg, and shoulder.

Who revived her but didn’t take her to a hospital? Some clean clothes lay next to her. Nothing special; a white,  _ very  _ oversized hoodie and a pair of jeans. Who left her stuff… but didn’t call 911?

She gasped when she saw her sword next to her. She had thrown it into the river, thinking she’d never see it again. Who fished it out? The only other person here was Catra, but Adora doesn’t want to wish too much.

Carefully peeling the suit off her shoulders, she sat in her strapless sports bra and athletic shorts for a moment to observe her bandages. The one around her stomach and leg were caked red, but her shoulder seemed to have stopped bleeding.

She groaned when she pressed a hand to her abdomen. It still hurt like a bitch, but she accepted it for what it is and pulled the hoodie over her head. It surrounded her like a warm blanket.

Now, the jeans are going to be the hard part. She considered walking back in her shorts, but if she squinted, she could see people gathering around the wreckage of the ruined S.H.I.E.L.D. building. 

So she’s still in walking distance. But she wouldn’t be going back to the rubble. She had to go where she knew everyone would be: the rendezvous spot. 

Adora groaned when she stood up. Her stomach was sore and her leg protested the movement, her shoulder being the only working body part she has. Her face still had little cuts, probably littered with bruises the way her side was.

Through gritted teeth, she pulled the jeans over her gunshot wound. She had to keep her She-Ra boots on, plus strapping her sword to her back was kind of awkward, but at least she’s alive. She scanned the area, butt still couldn’t see anyone who’d nursed her back to health.

“Alright, Adora..” She mumbled to herself, starting the walk to the cemetery. “One foot in front of the other.”

She put her hands in the pockets and slid the hood over her head. Every person she passed, she looked down warily to avoid eye contact. She can’t afford a Hydra agent who miraculously survived to see her walking the streets.

But Adora wanted to go home.

She couldn’t. She has to meet the others. Even if she doesn’t know how much time has actually passed, she’s sure she could communicate to them somehow. 

But she’s so  _ done  _ with this. She put both her mind and body through some sort of beating, and she wants nothing more than to lie down for a second. Of course, she has no time for that, so she’s cool with walking through D.C.

She showed up to the cemetery with everyone’s backs turned, all four people surrounding Angella’s fake tomb. Adora strode up to them, saying, “You get used to the ‘dying but not really’ thing pretty quick.”

Bow and Entrapta’s faces instantly lit up in relief, both clapping their hands on her shoulders and laughing out of the irony. Angella leaned on her tombstone, with Glimmer standing next to her.

“Hey, Glimmer,” Adora greeted. “Good to see you again.”

“I knew you weren’t dead, you son of a bitch.” Glimmer punched her bad shoulder before enveloping her in a tight hug.

Adora winced and pushed Glimmer away. She instinctively grabbed her stomach, pressing against the bandages. Her shoulder screamed in agony, but she put on a brave smile for her now concerned friends.

Angella cleared her throat, turning to Adora. “So, Hydra is still popping up since She-Ra defeating their leader wasn’t enough, I guess. I have to track them down, so I’m heading to Europe tonight.”   


“I didn’t do this alone,” Adora reminded. “Entrapta got one of the helicarriers and bomb ass wings, Bow released all of the files to the public, and you killed Mara. I mean, assuming everything went with the plan.”

Entrapta chuckled. “Yeah, but you probably had the hardest job. You were given the most difficult task, and never backed down. Girl, that’s awesome.”

She shrugged. She usually hated it when people complimented her because  _ she can’t take a compliment to save her life,  _ but she found herself appreciating the nice thoughts. She did need the affection after what happened.

Adora slung her good arm around Glimmer’s shoulders, feeling the girl tense up under her arm. She’d only let go if Glimmer told her to. “So, you’re heading to Europe?”

Angella clasped her hands together. “Huntara’s gonna go for a job at Fukuhara’s Industries, and someone has to clean this mess up. I was wondering if you wanted to go.”

Adora stepped away from Glimmer to stand next to Entrapta and Bow. They knew the plan they had discussed last night. “I have something I need to do.”

Angella nodded in understanding. “Okay. Bow? Entrapta? People with your kind of talents would be perfect where I’m going.”

All three of them made eye contact, and Bow shook his head. “I know I’m a spy, but I think I belong here for at least a little while longer.”

“Hmm, okay.” She held her hand out, and everyone shook it. “If anyone ask, tell them they could find me here.” She pointed to her tomb before tugging Glimmer closer with one arm and kissing the crown of her head.

“I’ll be fine.” Glimmer shimmied out of her mom’s grasp. “There’s no point in huge goodbyes. You’ll always be around, telling me what I can’t do.”

Angella chuckled. “Yeah, don’t get yourself killed.” She gave Glimmer one final hug before the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. turned around on her heel and walked away to her new journey.

“Okay you three,” Glimmer spun around as soon as her mom left. “Spill.”

“Long story short,” Entrapta began. “Adora ran into her ex on the highway who tried to kill us all and when we tried stopping her, they both disappeared and here’s Adora with new clothes.”   
  
Realizing what Entrapta was accusing her of, Adora’s cheeks erupted in a fury of red. “Oh, no no  _ no.  _ That is  _ not  _ what happened!  _ Bad  _ Entrapta!  _ Bad!  _ I woke up… and someone had banaged my cuts and left clean clothes.”

She left out the part where she confronted Catra who sat with her and knocked her out. They didn’t need to know about that, right? 

They clearly didn’t buy it, but let it go when Bow grabbed something from his jacket. “I got the file you were looking for. But Adora… Be careful going down this rabbit hole. Please.”

Adora nodded and took the cream colored folder, opening it and seeing a picture of Catra in a cryopod, frost around the glass where her face should be. She almost dropped the folder when a picture of Catra from the war with her uniform was included. She tucked in under her arm, smiling in thanks.

“You’re going after her, I know..” Glimmer looked around the cemetery. “But there’s something you should know.”

“What?”   


“Scorpia and Perfuma… Something happened. They’re in Sokovia right now with a scientist. I think we need to call the team together, though. They have the Black Garnet and are using it for the experiments. It’s dangerous, but we need someone to get to it before the specter  _ or  _ Scorpia and Perfuma are gone.”

Adora was left speechless, and she usually is around Glimmer. They hadn’t called the team back together for a while now. This couldn’t be  _ that  _ serious…

Could it?

“Guess I can’t be throwing swords out of high places for a little while longer, huh,” Adora joked.

Entrapta and Glimmer stared at her, confused for a second. She forgot they hadn't been on the helicarrier when everything went down, so she cleared her throat to change the subject. "But… what exactly is it we're fighting now?"

Bow shrugged. "Glimmer explained all she could. It could be dangerous if we're not careful about this. I mean, we've already gone against Scorpia and Perfuma used to work at S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't…"

She took in the information. "We'll call the team once we have a but more information about how the Black Garnet is being used. We'll go from there."

Bow and Glimmer nodded. Glimmer slapped a hand on Adora's shoulder. "Well popsicle, until next time."

She rolled her eyes since the ice themed nicknames never left after she came out of the ice, but she's fond of it now. "Yeah. I'll see you later, Glimmer."

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_ 1 MONTH LATER _

Catra drove on her motorcycle. 

When the slick black car came into view, she stepped harder on the gas. The snow that came down around her in the chilly December air didn't bother her, and neither did her mission. 

She pulled up next to it, and slashed the tires with her knife. She reversed to get out the driver's viewpoint, but not too far back that she'd lose sight of the car. 

The car swerved into a tree, the front completely totalled. She parked her motorcycle behind it, ripping open the trunk for a briefcase that she was assigned to retrieve. That, along with her other assignment. 

Kill the driver. 

She saw an elderly woman with hair so white it was almost pink. She stalked up to her slowly, letting the fear build up in the victim. She grabbed their hair and pulled them to face her. Her mask was still missing, but this woman would be dead anyways. 

"Don't do this.." The woman muttered. "There's-"

Catra cut her off with a punch to the face. She's angry. She had already been assigned to kill this woman and she had failed. Mara had taken the blow instead. This woman didn't deserve to have the chance to beg for mercy. 

"There's a museum in New York," the woman continued. "It talks about the war against Beast Island. Go there. D-don't do this. Don't do this to Adora-"

She'd heard that name more than she would have liked to lately. It confused her every time she heard it. She grasped at the woman's neck and effectively snapped the bone, the woman dying underneath her fingertips. 

Catra tossed the body to the side of the road. She'd leave it for someone else to find. It wasn't her problem. Her new problem was the mission she gave herself prior. She was going to solve the mystery behind that blonde girl. 

Her name was Adora Carrero, and Catra was going to figure out why the girl with that name knew her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINISHED THIS AT CHEER CAMP SO WHOOP
> 
> Yes, I'll be writing a civil war sequel to this! Along with a couple things in between ;))) 
> 
> This story is my baby and I'm so proud of it. Love you for reading! <3
> 
> -noemi

**Author's Note:**

> My Tumblr - heeyycatra
> 
> :)


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